Redemption by fire
by Oompasy
Summary: My take on the events of Book 3: Fire.
1. Chapter 1

It's been a while since I have written a fan fic and so I am a little raw around the edges. Please bear with me :)

And just in case there is any doubt, this is going to be a Zutara ;)

Reviews and comments are always appreciated.

**Prologue**_  
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_Katara's heart was pounding, her breaths coming in painful gasps. Any moment now she would be able to hear them chasing her down the tunnel. She had no idea how long the general will be able to hold them down but maximum she could count on maybe 5 minutes till they catch up with her. She grasped the limp body tightly in her arms and with her tears blurring her vision, she continued to run madly down the tunnel, the faint greenish glow of the crystals lighting her way._

_The terror was threatening to consume her very soul and never had she felt so helpless before. Frantically she looked down at him, willing him to open his eyes, her voice choking out his name in agony. In that tiny moment of distracted horror, she tripped over her legs and landed painfully on the ground, Aang's body flying out of her grasp and skidding to a halt a foot away from her. She had no idea how badly she was bleeding and in the green glow, she was unable to see the red slowly seeping through her right leg and though she could feel the warm sticky wetness of her blood spilling out, she had no other thought in her mind but to get to Aang. Gritting her teeth to prevent herself from screaming in pain, she slowly dragged herself to where Aang lay sprawled on the floor._

_It seemed like an eternity till she could get to Aang and when she finally did, she was horrified to find him not breathing. Tears spilling down her eyes, she desperately shook him, crying out his name and begging him to wake up but his head just lolled from side to side, lifelessly. She fumbled around his robes, ripping it off to reveal the giant ugly wound that had pierced his body. Her breath caught in her throat and for a moment she almost felt her heart stopping in horror. Frantically her hands reached for the only water she had with her, the small phial of healing water from the northern water tribe. She was not even aware of what she was doing, it seemed as if her head was buzzing with a strange noise, as if her body was in this world but she was floating somewhere else, as if all this was happening to someone else, not her. The bright glow of the water as it spread over Aang's gaping wound brought her back to the present and she concentrated with all her might, praying to all the spirits she knew to help her. The water stopped glowing and she looked at Aang anxiously, looking for any sign that it helped, in whatever little way possible.._

_Suddenly she could hear faint footsteps coming towards her. Terrified she realized Aang was still in danger and with every ounce of strength she had, she pulled Aang up onto his feet. Ignoring the stabbing pain in her leg, she slowly started to drag them both towards the opening of the tunnel, hoping against hope that the water from the spirit oasis worked._

_"Uhh…"_

_Katara's heart almost stopped._

_"Aang!" she breathed in._

_He opened his eyes and she watched in disbelief as he gave her a weak smile. It was as if a giant wave of water has just splashed down on her, washing away all her fears and for a moment she felt so relieved, it almost made her dizzy. She grasped him tightly, tears of relief seeping down her eyelids as she could feel his heart starting to beat again, faint but strong._

_"We need to get you out of here Aang" she whispered, dragging him forward, "hang on."_

_But Aang had already faded back to unconsciousness and his body slouched down on her making her tighten her grip on him. Almost there… the sudden cool breeze of the night assaulted her face painfully and she looked up to see the faint stars twinkling in the night sky. With a huge effort, she was finally able to drag them both out of the tunnel, into the open air and collapsed on the ground, her arms still around Aang._

_She closed her eyes in defeat, as she could hear the footsteps much louder now. There was no way she would be able to put up a fight, not the way she was right now. There was Azula and half a dozen Dai Li.. and Zuko… her stomach clenched at his name and such a strong hatred tore through her that she almost felt like throwing up._

_"Katara!"_

_Her eyes snapped open. In the night sky, she could clearly see the giant outline of the flying bison. She scrambled to her feet as Appa gently landed next to her, a small puff of dust flying up in the air. Sokka ran towards her, terrified at the stricken look on his sister's face. He stopped short as he saw Aang lying on the ground, bruised, torn and bleeding._

_"He's alive" Katara answered his silent question._

_"Whaa.." Sokka opened his mouth but Katara silenced him by raising her hand._

_"Later. Get Aang" she said urgently, "the Dai Li will be here any second."_

_"We can take them, we have Toph!"_

_"No point. Aang's safety is our main concern!" Katara replied frantically. "Hurry!"_

_Sokka didn't stop to argue; with one sweep he pulled Aang up in his arms and carried him over to Appa. And then it happened. With a loud crash, the opening of the tunnel blasted apart and the ground that Appa was standing on dissolved under his feet. The impact of the blast threw Katara several feet up in the air. With a scared roar, Appa lurched onto the air, Toph hanging onto the Earth King for dear life as Sokka made a frantic grasp to keep Aang's unconscious body from falling over board. A giant blast of hot stinging blue fire followed, almost singing Appa's nose. The beast gave a cry of terror and rolled over to the other side, trying to get away from the fire._

_"Go!" Katara screamed. "Get Aang away! Now!"_

_"I am not leaving you behind!" Sokka yelled back._

_Several dozen Dai Li agents came streaming out of the now demolished tunnel. Katara tried to get up but her feet gave away and she fell down hard on the ground. The pain was making it impossible to concentrate and she had no water left on her._

_"Get out!" Katara bellowed, angry tears spilling down her eyes._

_"Sokka!" Toph shouted._

_Sokka shook his head and with one last pleading look at Katara, grasped Appa's reins and yelled "yip yip!"_

_"Sokka! What are you doing?" Toph scrambled across, "We have to get Katara!"_

_Sokka didn't reply, his hands holding on to Appa's reins so tightly they were white to the knuckles. Anger and helplessness was flooding every pore of his body. Another flash of blue fire and Appa rose into the air, dodging it to the right and with a mighty roar, flew straight up in the watched in muted relief as Appa flew farther and farther away, his shape getting smaller and smaller._

_ Even among all the rumblings, she could still hear Toph's voice screaming out her name._

Book 3: Fire

Chapter 1

The Awakening.


	2. Chapter 2

First of all, thanks a lot for the reviews guys. I hope this chapter lives up to the expectations :)

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"_Why didn't you tell us you were the Avatar?"_

"_Because I never wanted to be."_

Aang groaned, the dull pounding in his head making him dizzy. He could feel himself lying on a cot but try as hard as he wanted, he couldn't move his arms. Slowly, painfully his eyes fluttered open, his mouth feeling as if it was full of ash. Groggily he pushed himself into a sitting position and immediately the world seemed to turn upside down on him. He clutched his stomach as a sudden sharp pain ran through his body..

"What happened?" he muttered, feeling dazed.

It took him a while but finally the world stopped spinning around and he could look at what he was seeing. At first he thought he was hallucinating but when the image didn't blur over, the thought slowly entered his mind that maybe it was true. A sudden panic seemed to rise up his spine and he whirled around in stunned disbelief to find the fire nation insignia on a large tapestry hanging on the side wall.

"Oh no!" Aang gasped. He was inside a fire navy ship!

Struggling with all his might, he scrambled from the cot. Still groggy, Aang forced himself to get out of the room, hobbling along as pure terror seemed to seize him from within. As he turned a corner, suddenly he could hear someone speak out " You hear something?"

Fire nation soldiers. Of course, Aang thought grimly.

He burst out from the corner and with his staff, blew a strong gusts of wind towards the two fire navy soldiers and without even turning back to look, he hobbled his way, desperate to get out of the ship.

"He's awake!"

"Stop! Wait!"

They are not getting me this time, Aang promised himself resolutely, climbing up a small flight of stairs, trying to get to the deck. A cool breeze of night air blew into his face, carrying the smell of the sea with it. Just as he thought he had made it, the world seemed to give another lurch and Aang stumbled on the floor, his staff skittering away from him.

Dazed, he looked up and for a second, he thought he must have hit his head hard when he fell. Could it be "Momo?"

The lemur let out a stream of happy mutterings and leapt onto Aang's shoulder, licking his cheek as he tried to get up from the floor.

"Twinkle toes! That's got to be you!"

Aang looked, confused as Toph came running into the periphery of his vision.

"Aang! Good to see you back with the living buddy!" Before Aang could realize what was happening, the fire navy soldier grasped him in a quick hug. Even in his confused state, Aang had a feeling that voice sounded very much like a certain water tribe warrior he knew.

"Sokka?" Aang managed to speak out.. before he could complete his sentence, the whole ship seemed to lurch again and he could feel the dizziness engulfing him..

"Uh oh! Somebody catch him! He's gonna.."

The whole world turned black as Aang's unconscious body hit the deck of the ship with a loud thud.

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The thick fog swirled around, almost making it impossible to see the vast ocean lying wide open. The soft silver glimmer of the full moon slowly lighted the deck of the ship, making the dark outline of the person standing on the edge of the deck stand out sharply. Even in the pale light, there was no mistaking the muted gold of his eyes as he looked over the ship, his sight getting lost somewhere in the fog covering the ocean.

Zuko stood still, the night air blowing his fire nation robes around him, creating a dark silhouette against the moonlight. It has been more than a week since that fateful night in Ba Sing Se, more than enough time for his turbulent emotions to have stilled and calmed down, more than enough time for the turmoil inside him to have ceased… but there had been far too many moments than he would have liked to admit when he had to been forced to remind himself that he made the right choice.

He had not been able to sleep properly for the past few days; every time he closed his eyes and dozed off, his uncle's dejected face haunted his dreams, his night mares punctuated by those pair of hauntingly clear blue eyes which seemed to reproach him. Just as every other night, he had woken up tonight, covered in sweat, his heart pounding in his ears and a faint memory of his dream flitting away from his consciousness. He had thrown his sheets aside, grabbed his dress robes and made his way to the deck, hoping the night air would help clear his mind.

The sound of the sea waves was suddenly intruded upon by the sound of footsteps as Mai made her way over to where Zuko stood.

"Aren't you cold?" she asked him gently.

"I've got a lot on my mind" Zuko replied. "It's been so long. Over three years since I was home. I wonder what's changed. I wonder how I've changed."

Mai let out a sigh.. she had been getting a little worried about Zuko lately but after nearly two weeks, she would have expected him to be his normal self.

"I just asked if you were cold." Mai said. " I didn't ask for your whole life story."

Zuko frowned at her tone..

"Stop worrying" Mai replied gently, pulling in Zuko for a kiss.

As Mai walked away, Zuko closed his eyes, pulling in a deep breath, mentally reminding himself that his uncle had faltered in his loyalty to his nation, not him; he should stop second guessing himself. A moment later when he opend his eyes again, the pale gold of his eyes had a different shine on them than they did just a few minutes back.

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"Why are we on a fire nation ship?" Aang asked confused "And where is Katara?"

Sokka and Hakoda looked at each other; a strange tension seemed to fill up the air between them.

Aang didn't like this feeling at all; when no one seemed to reply to his questions, he opened his mouth once again but before he could get the words out, Sokka said gently:

"You have to take it easy ok? You have been hurt pretty bad"

"I will let you guys talk things out" Hakoda said politely, before leaving the room and shutting the door behind him.

Aang watched him go, a dull pain throbbing at his chest. His arms and upper torso had been covered in bandages and it still hurt to walk and sometimes a sharp pain seemed to stab his lungs when he tried to breathe. He closed his eyes and tried to relax, waiting for Sokka to continue. When he didn't however, Aang opened his eyes again and was surprised to find Sokka still standing in front of him, a strange look on his face.

"Where's Katara?" he repeated.

And suddenly, he knew. Aang's eyes went wide in shock, pure terror gripping him so tightly, he doubled over on the floor on all floors and retched. No.. no.. please no..!

Tears filled his eyes, spilling over his cheeks onto the floor. His whole body shook as an uncontrollable sorrow threatened to rip his throat apart, his soul howling in agony.

"Aang!" Sokka gripped his shoulder urgently, "She's not dead."

He heard those words but they seemed to be coming from very far away, from behind a haze of red and orange, from behind a raging waterfall that threatened to tear him limb from limb. If she is not dead, there is only one explanation..

He looked up at Sokka and just the look on his face was enough to confirm his suspicion.

"Aang.. " Sokka continued uncomfortably, "there was nothing we could do…"

"Sokka.." even to his own ears, his voice sounded like someone else's. "Please .. just go.. please."

Sokka hung his head and slowly let go of Aang's shoulder. He stood on his feet and watched the Avatar on the floor, his whole body shaking as tears continued to spill out his eyes. Softly he got up and left, closing the door shut behind him.

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Toph stood up from the chair, she had been waiting for Sokka for almost an hour now. When he finally emerged from under the deck, she could sense the heavy sorrow surrounding him even now.

It had been a painful few weeks for everyone, especially Sokka. Toph and he had a blazing row the night they had to leave Katara behind. Toph shivered, the memory of that night making her grip her robes tightly around her even though the night was not cold. She had said a lot of unkind things, anger and regret making her scream and rage at him for leaving his sister behind; Sokka who usually was never the one to give into emotions finally broke that night. He shouted back at her and for a moment Toph felt that he was almost on the verge of doing something foolish like hitting her. After what seemed like hours, their fight finally came to an uncomfortable truce when Aang's unconscious form let out a low painful grunt.

They had managed to flee from Ba Sing Se and caught up with Hakoda and a bunch of fire navy ship that the water tribe had captured. They had been under disguise since then, travelling across the waters, heading towards the fire nation. Aang's recovery had been slow and Katara's absence fell heavily on everyone. Hakoda had simply nodded his head when Sokka told him what happened and he had never mentioned that incident even once after that.

"How is he?" Toph asked uncertainly but Sokka just drew in a long breath and fell on the chair next to her's.

"I am amazed he is still alive" Sokka replied slowly, rubbing his tired eyes and letting out a sigh.

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" Your Princess Azula, clever and beautiful, disguised herself as the enemy and entered the Earth Kingdom's capital. In Ba Sing Se she found her brother, Zuko, and together, they faced the Avatar. And the Avatar fell, and the Earth Kingdom fell. Azula's agents quickly overtook the entire city. They went to Ba Sing Se's Great Walls, and brought them down! "

"The armies of the Fire Nation surged through the wall and swarmed over Ba Sing Se, securing our victory. Now the heroes have returned home. Your princess, Azula! "

"And after three long years, your prince has returned. Zuko! "

Zuko looked over the terrace and it seemed strange to see so many people cheering him on. What was the celebration all about? Why was he not happy? He was home after so many years, finally back to where he belonged and still there was a hole in his heart that he had no idea how to fix. He stole a glance at Azula, standing next to him, smug and royal, radiating confidence. He looked down, his mind a jumble of thoughts and his hands unconsciously shaking.. from anger? From regret? Zuko had no idea.

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Sokka stood in front of the door for a minute, the food tray in his hand seemed more like a peace offering than anything else. This is crazy, Sokka thought to himself, he had nothing to apologize about. If the same situation came, he would have done the exact same thing.

Or would he?

He let out a frustrated sigh.. this is not going anywhere.

Taking a deep breath, he pushed the door open.

"I got you some food.." he began but stopped short. There was nothing but an empty room in front of him. Panic seized him as he set the tray down on the table near the door and ran out..

Stupid.. stupid..! How could he have been so stupid! He bolted up the stairs, taking two and a time and burst out onto the deck.

Hakoda and Bato looked up in surprise as Sokka ran towards them.

"Dad!" he shouted. " Aang's gone!"

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Aang gritted his teeth, trying to push the pain away. The thunder roared over head, wind blowing so wild and fast that for a moment, it almost felt like that day 112 years ago when he had ran away on Appa. He shook his head, now is not the time to remise. Katara! His heart seemed to turn over and he could feel the pain and anger washing over him yet once again. A bright clap of lightning streaked across the stormy sky, making everything still for a second.

How could they leave her behind? He thought angrily. How could they?

The rain lashed across his face but he ignored it, the water washing away the tears still streaming down his cheeks. He had to get Katara back.. no matter what he had to save her.

A huge wave of violent water roared in front of him and before he could do anything, he found himself under water. It was as if someone had suddenly turned off all the sound and light in the world. He struggled to breath, thrashing wildly in blind panic and rage.

"Enough!" He screamed and at the same time swallowed a mouthful of sea water. His lungs burned as the water closed in upon his chest, his injured body feeling the strain of trying to keep alive. With the last ounce of strength he had, he pushed his hands down, creating a jet of water which propelled him up towards the water. He broke the water surface with a huge gulp of air, coughing and retching, his lungs still burning from the sea water he just inhaled.

The rain lashed on even more furiously but Aang was determined. He had to save Katara. He cannot give up. Not now, Not ever. With renewed strength, he got up on his staff and waved his arms, pushing the water backwards in order to move forward. He will save her. He will.

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Zuko slammed the door open to her room.

"Why did you do it?" he demanded.

Azula didn't even bother to look up from her bed. Eyes still closed she said " You are going to have to be a little more specific."

"Why did you tell father that I was the one who killed the Avatar?" Zuko stated, his eyes narrowing. He had no idea about this and when his father had stressed how proud he was of Zuko's achievement of killing the avatar, he had to pull in all his restrain to stop himself from blurting out the truth.

"Can't this wait until morning?"

"It cant"

Azula sighed but pushed herself up from the bed.

"Fine." Azula walked over to where her brother was standing. "You seemed so worried about how father would treat you because you hadn't captured the Avatar. I figured, if I gave you the credit, you'd have nothing to worry about. "

" But why? " Zuko asked, confused and annoyed at the same time.

_" _Call it a generous gesture." Azula drawled. " I wanted to thank you for your help, and I was happy to share the glory. "

" You're lying." Zuko gritted his teeth.

"If you say so." Azula smirked, walking past him.

" You have another motive for doing this." Zuko replied. " I just haven't figure out what it is."

" Please, Zuko" Azula remarked. " What ulterior motive could I have? What could I possibly gain by letting you get all the glory for defeating the Avatar? Unless somehow, the Avatar was actually alive. All that glory would suddenly turn to shame and foolishness. But you said yourself that was impossible."

Zuko's heart almost stopped.

"_This is water from the Spirit Oasis, at the North Pole. It has special properties, so I've been saving it for something important."_

"Sleep well, Zuzu." Azula smirked.

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Book 3: Fire

Chapter 2

The Headband


	3. Chapter 3

The nights in the fire nation capital didn't seem to be any different from the nights in the southern water tribe. Even the moon looked the same but somehow even though the moon was shining in all her glory, it's gentle silver rays seemed to be heavy with a strange sorrow.

Katara sighed, looking away from the tiny window in her prison cell through which she could see the full moon in the night sky. It has been a couple of days since the fire nation guards had transferred her from her prison cell in the navy ship over to the temporary prison in the fire nation capital city.

"You should consider yourself lucky" the guard had sneered as he pushed her roughly into her cell. Katara stumbled across, landing in a heap on the floor across the metal prison bars. "The place where they put prisoners like you is not a place people look forward to."

Katara didn't care even if they were planning to throw her into a live volcano. All she cared about was Aang and his safety. She had tried to listen to any snatches of conversation she could hear through her locked prison doors in the ship; any gossip any rumour that might give her a clue as to what happened to Aang. The past two weeks on the ship had been a torture.. although she had healed physically, she was mentally always on the edge. At first she tried to ask the prison guards who brought her food every day, the guards who would tie up her arms and give her water soaked on sponges to drink; but no matter how much she demanded to know what happened to Aang, no matter how much she yelled and raged at them, they would not even utter a single word.

This uncertainty was driving her crazy. She knew she had healed Aang.. Aang had even responded, hadn't he?

It was during the dark hours of the night that she would suddenly wake up with a start, sweat pouring all over her body, her eyes wet with tears from a distant nightmare she couldn't remember. She would sit in her cell for hours, mentally going through everything that happened in Ba Sing Se and there were several times when the pitiful food trays the guards got her were taken back still untouched. The small metal room of the ship she was confined in couldn't keep the smell of the sea water away from her and there were even times she thought about making a run for it.. she was surrounded by water after all.. she could easily take them out.. But then the reality would set in.. even if she could take out a few ship, she would not be able to take down an entire fleet of royal navy ship. Not to mention Azula and Zuko.

Zuko.. the mere thought of him was enough for her to see red. Her anger over the fire nation prince had been seething underneath her skin for so long that one night it suddenly broke through. She had paced around her prison cell angrily for more than an hour and had finally broken down into uncontrollable sobs, collapsing on the floor. For some reason, his betrayal hurt her more than she would care to admit.

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_"I thought you had changed!"_

_"I have changed."_

Zuko's eyes snapped open. For a second, he couldn't recognize where he was but then slowly as the sleep drained away from him, he realized he was on his own bed. He closed his eyes and tried to remember what he was dreaming about. It was like trying to capture the snatches of some far away memory.. no matter how hard he tried, it seemed to be just a little farther from his grasp.

Zuko frowned, concentrating on how he felt during the dream.. it was not hard since he had been feeling the same way since that night in Ba Sing Se. He sighed, getting up from his bed and grabbing his hooded cloak from the bedside rack.

It was time to face his nightmare.

The night was bright, with the full moon shining down on the sleeping capital city. Zuko hesitated just a moment before stepping out from the palace doors and heading towards the prison cells. He looked up towards the tall towers and could see the faint outline of a soldier standing guard. He had been tempted to go and visit his uncle for the past few nights and he had even gone so far as to go near the prison towers but he had always turned back. Tonight however, he slipped into the shadows, slowly making his way forward. He had no idea what he was doing or why he was even going to see his uncle of all people. It was as if an invisible force was compelling him to go there and he just couldn't stop himself.

"You again?" The guard shouted. " Stop where you are."

Zuko looked up; lost in his thoughts he hadn't realized he was walking straight towards the guard.

The guard saw his face and immediately gasped " Prince Zuko?"

Before he could say another word, Zuko grabed him by the collar and slammed him hard against the wall.. The guard let out a grunt of pain

"I'm going in for a visit." Zuko growled menacingly. "You're gonna stand guard here, and no one is going to know about this.

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Katara's eyes flew open. For a minute she lay absolutely still, her heart beating in her eardrums. She had been awaken by a noise, a noise that suspiciously sounded like somebody slamming against the wall.

She strained her ears, trying to figure out what it was but the walls fell silent once again. Still uneasy, Katara got up from the cot she was lying in and walked over to the edge of her prison cell. Before she could figure out what to do next, the door in front of her prison cell slammed open and she could see a hooded figure outlined through the door. The figure was looking back at whatever was inside the room and then it turned and closed the door behind. She gave an audible gasp when the moonlight struck the face of the person behind the hood..

"Zuko!"

She hadn't realized that she had called out his name loud until his startled pale gold eyes turned around towards her voice, locking in her eyes. Katara was transfixed.. a succession of emotions running through her so fast she almost felt dizzy with rage..

Zuko could feel her anger radiating out of her cell.. but try as hard as he could, he just couldn't bring himself to look away from her. The same pair of eyes which had been constantly in his nightmare for so long.. he was finally looking at them for real once again. For a moment, he almost felt as if he was back in the crystal catacombs of Ba Sing Se and she was looking at him with that same pair of eyes…

Katara opened her mouth to say something but before she could get a word out, Zuko broke their gaze and turning his back on her, wordlessly walked away.

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It took them a while to find Aang but Sokka had been right. Aang was heading towards the fire nation when he had ran off that night and playing on a hunch, they found him lying on the beach, on the same island where the Fire temple they once visited was. Hakoda had dropped off both Toph and Sokka along with Appa and Momo and had sailed off, just as the morning sun was breaking through the eastern horizon; the water tribe warriors had promised to meet them once everyone had gathered to execute the plans for the day of the solar eclipse.

"Is he asleep?" Toph asked cautiously.

"I think so" Sokka replied, sitting down next to Aang's sleeping body. He looked really bad.. exhausted and his clothes torn apart, his hand still holding on to his staff which was now broken in two places.

Aang groaned in his sleep and his eyes fluttered open. Momo chirped happily and jumped onto his shoulder. Aang sat up, looking pale and groggy.

"Sokka?" he asked stupidly.

"I am here buddy."

"I am going to save Katara.." Aang said slowly, trying to stand up on his feet.

"I know you will Aang.." Sokka replied, helping Aang on to his feet. " And so will I."

"Are you two old ladies done with the niceties?" Toph interjected waspishly. "In case you didn't notice, we are standing on a lava spewing volcano."

Aang gave a small chuckle and almost immediately doubled over in pain the very next instant when Toph rammed him hard on his arm with her fist.

"You didn't think you could get out of training just by coming to the fire nation, did you?" Toph smirked.

Aang grinned at her, rubbing his head sheepishly.

"Guys.. I am sorry.." he began.

"It's ok Aang" Sokka replied gently. "We all have been through hell the past few days. Leaving Katara behind was the hardest decision that I ever made in my life and I am terrified every single day wondering if I was wrong.."

"You guys give sugar queen a lot less credit than she deserves." Toph drawled "I am sure she must be mothering all the guards around her, yelling at them for not taking baths daily."

Sokka chuckled sadly.

"Anyway, " he continued "we need to get into the fire nation first. There is a more than a fair chance that we might hear something about how the Avatar is dead and where the prisoners are held captive."

Aang's eyes opened wide in horror. "Wait! What?" he yelled in shock. "What do you mean the Avatar is dead?"

"Oh didn't I tell you that?" Sokka replied enthusiastically. "The whole world thinks you are dead. Isn't that great?"

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"Orange is such an awful colour" Mai sighed, resting her head on Zuko's shoulder.

In spite of everything going on in his head, he couldn't help but chuckle at this.

"You are so beautiful when you hate the world" he smiled.

"I don't hate you."

"I don't hate you too."

"Ahem.." Azula cleared her throat, making them break their kiss. "Oh Mai.." she began. "Ty lee needs your help untangling her braid."

Mai looked at her and without another word, got up and walked away, the orange of the setting sun hardly able to hide the tiny hint of displeasure that seemed to spark in her eyes for just a second.

Zuko watched her walk away and for a moment almost felt like walking off with her himself. He was in no mood to talk to anyone after what happened last night, least of all to Azula. The trip down to the prison cells had been a big mistake, not only did it not help anything, it actually made things even worse.

Zuko sighed; he might as well get this over with. "What do you want Azula?"

She looked at him, wondering where to start. She decided the direct approach would be better.

"So.." she started "I hear you went to visit uncle fatso."

Zuko jumped to his feet in alarm. "That guard told you!" He replied hotly.

"No.." Azula sighed. "You just did."

Zuko looked at her in disbelief; he wanted to kick himself for falling in her trap so easily.

"If people find out you were with him, they might think you were plotting with him or something. " Azula continued. "I am actually trying to look out for you, just be careful dumdum."

Zuko frowned at his sister but didn't say anything.

"Oh well, I did my part." She turned her back on him and started walking down the path. "Don't do anything foolish, that's all I say."

Zuko stared at the setting sky for a long time and it was almost twilight when he made his way back to the palace.

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"Blending in is better than hiding out" Aang had proposed. "If we can get fire nation disguises, we would be as safe as hiding in a cave."

The three of them had made their way to the fire nation, carefully hiding Appa is a cloud as he flew over to the island. Aang had been incensed about the whole idea of him playing dead but a couple of hours to think things through plus some sound reasoning from Sokka had finally convinced him. And so there they were, standing in the mouth of a cave they had found; Sokka had suggested that they stay hiding in a cave and sneak out during the nights and evenings to find information about Katara but even he had to agree, staying hidden in a cave had nothing going for it.

Hence they had sneaked out during the day and found themselves fire nation clothes, or rather they stole some fire nation clothes that someone had washed and hung out to dry. Aang told his guilty conscience that it was all for the greater good and hoping that the monks won't look down on him for stealing something, he pulled his fire nation clothes on.

"Er.. Aang."

He turned towards Sokka and found him standing there with a headband on his hand. "You need to cover up your arrow." He said awkwardly.

Aang's heart dropped. He was still not comfortable going incognito but he had no choice. With a heavy heart, he reached for the band and tied it over his forehead, his blue tattooed arrow disappearing underneath.

###############################################################################################

The night sky was brighter today than it was yesterday and Zuko pulled his hood lower over his face as he made his way over to the courtyard. He looked around but whoever he was supposed to be visiting was not there yet. He had thought about this a long time, ever since Azula left him sitting all alone on the Cliffside. No, he shook his head, he had been thinking about it ever since he saw her in the prison cell yesterday night. He had not seen her since that night in Ba Sing Se when she was taken captive. Although they didn't find Aang's body, Azula was sure there was no way he could have survived, she was precise and her lightning has always been deadly. But something about the way Katara had looked at him that night, as the Dai Li dragged her down, made him feel as if the avatar was still alive.

It had been bothering him for a while… he couldn't help but remember her words that night when she had come so close to him and he had dropped all his walls to let her touch his scar…

The creak of metal roused him from his thoughts and he looked up to see that whoever he was waiting for had finally arrived.

"You're sure you weren't followed?" Zuko asked. The figure didn't reply so he continued:

" I've heard about you. They say you're good at what you do. And even better at keeping secrets. The Avatar's alive. I want you to find him. And end him."

Book 3: Fire  
>Chapter 3<br>The painted lady.


	4. Chapter 4

Thank you everyone for your comments and reviews. It means a lot to see people actually reading and taking their time to comment on my story :) I apologize for the late update; I was kind of caught up with all things Korra :D :D

So ahem.. here is the latest chapter:

xxxxxx

Katara looked up as the door to her prison cell creaked open. She had been pacing around the cell for hours now, restless energy and rage keeping her from sitting down and thinking things through. The sight of Zuko yesterday night had rattled her, more so since she had not expected to see him at all. The last glimpse she had of the prince was during that fateful night in the now fallen earth kingdom capital city when the Dai Li had managed to drag her down and capture her after she had been able to help Aang escape from certain death.

She stopped pacing as the guard came in with a tray of food in his hands. As usual, he slid the metal tray underneath the cell bars and left without a word. Katara looked at the food and suddenly ravenous, she grabbed the apple and bit into it, the juice running down her chin. Chewing thoughtfully, she tried to think what to do next, trying to get her thoughts in order. It is not going to help at all if she is stuck in here forever, she will have to find a way out and get out of here as soon as possible. If only she had some water, she thought frustrated. She wiped the apple juice off her chin with the back of her hand and reached out to take the other apple in the tray.

As she stretched her arm towards the tray, she suddenly stopped and stared at her hand. Her heart beating painfully fast, she slowly pulled her hand near her face and stared at the apple juice that she had just wiped off her chin a few minutes back. A sudden crazy idea started to form in her head... so crazy that she was afraid to breathe, lest it might disappear before she could think it through. Was it possible..? Slowly she flicked her hand and concentrating on the droplets of juice, she bended them into tiny globules, hovering around her; suspended in mid air.

She stared at the tiny droplets in wonder, excitement rushing through her body. Breathing hard, her eyes went to the tiny apple sitting innocently on the food tray and with a motion of her right hand; she pulled the water out of the fruit, leaving it dry, small and wrinkled.

At that moment, Katara could have jumped and whooped; the relief and excitement crashing through her body was unlike anything she had felt in a long time. Of course, she nodded her head; all living things contain water… including fruits and plants. Why didn't she think about it before?

She bended the water from the apple into ice, it was a very minuscule amount of water no doubt but looking at it in her hand, fragments of a tiny plan started forming haphazardly in her mind. However, before she could think of anything else, the door to her prison room suddenly creaked open. Alarmed, she just had enough time to lunge forward and grab the dry apple off the tray seconds before the prison guard entered the room.

Without a word, he grabbed the tray and walked out of the room, slamming the door shut behind him. Katara heaved a sigh of relief, the tiny apple in her hand feeling like a guilty secret she needed to hide. She waited for what seemed like an hour, her hand tightly clenched over the small apple, her senses on high alert, listening to any sound that might signal the guard coming back.

When nothing happened, she slowly let go of the breath she had been holding for a while and straightening up, she unclenched her hand, staring at the apple in her palm…

xxxx

"Hey guys!" Aang spoke up "I think this river is polluted."

They had been traveling on Appa for almost a day now, trying to make their way inland, so that they could be nearer to the capital city and also make it to Chameleon Bay in time to meet up with the water tribe warriors. Whatever small food they had managed to gather in the last town had gotten over the night before and now they were dangerously low on provisions.

Sokka had suggested they could try fishing and it was a sign of how desperate they were to keep a low profile even in disguise that Aang and Toph agreed instead of going to another village to try and buy some food. Sokka had been trying to hook a fish for almost three hours now with no luck.

"You think so?" Sokka remarked, irritated. "No wonder I can't catch a single fish!"

"Guys, I think we have no choice but to stop and buy some food." Toph replied, her stomach rumbling loudly in hunger.

"Hey! Maybe we can get some food there."

Sokka turned to look at the place Aang was pointing to. It seemed like a little village in the middle of the river, the tiny wooden huts standing out in the pale afternoon sun. Sokka knew a stop or detour now might make it really difficult for them to make it to Chameleon bay in time but they really had no choice.

So there they were, the three of them, standing on the cliff that overlooked the river.

"I don't feel anything." Toph grumbled. "Where is this village?"

"It's in the middle of the river." Sokka replied.

The village was spread out before them, floating along the murky river water. A short boat ride brought them over to the so called port of the village and as Sokka climbed over, he couldn't help but notice the over powering stench of the river permeating the whole place. One look was more then enough for them to figure out the people were not doing so good; everywhere they turned to look they could see sick people lying on the floor and hungry children wailing for food.

"I don't feel so good about this place" Toph spoke up as they made their way in, trying to find a place that sold food.

"Let's just get the food and get out of here.., " Sokka agreed. The sight of so many sick and starving people was making him feel uncomfortable, sad and guilty. He looked over at Aang and he could see his face reflecting the sadness that Sokka himself was feeling; if only they had time to so something for the people. But that was just the problem, they were already behind schedule and trying to find time to help everyone on their way was not something that was very realistic. If only there was some other way…

Just as they turned the next corner, they could see an old broken down sign board spelling out "GROCERY" hanging outside a wooden store. Relieved Sokka marched over, determined to ignore the hungry kid looking over at him from the corner of the street.

The store seemed to be selling only sea food and as Sokka looked into the box the merchant was holding out for him, the stench of rotten fish was so strong that he almost felt like throwing up.

"That's all we got kid." The store owner sighed… "Whenever we manage to get a good haul, it all goes to the fire nation goons."

"What do you mean?" Toph asked curious.

"The fire nation guards from the factory down river" the store keeper explained, "They come down here everyday and take away whatever fish we manage to capture. That's why the people here are all starving since we are left to eat fifth like this." He finished pointing at a rotten clam in the box which was oozing a disgusting smelling liquid from under its shell.

Sokka just had enough time to look disgusted when suddenly a shriek ripped through the air. Turning around quickly he could see Aang and Toph already running towards the alley which seemed to be filling up with people even as he jogged to catch up towards them.

"Thief!" he could hear someone roar followed by yet another shriek.

"What's going on?" Sokka asked, pushing his way forward through the hoard of people, somehow managing to get in front of the crowd.

"You first steal our food and then lie about it!" Sokka could see a fire nation guard howling at a cowering young boy who was clutching what looked like a very tiny fish in his hands. The boy shrieked some more as the guard blasted a fire ball towards him, narrowly missing his head.

Aang could feel a slow anger burning up his spine but before he could step forward, Sokka pulled him back.

"No... You are supposed to be dead! Remember?" he whispered "We cannot risk you being seen."

"Am I supposed to just stand here and watch this happen?" Aang growled through gritted teeth, his normally calm façade betraying just a hint of anger.

"No," Sokka shook his head. "You let me take care of it."

Before Aang could say anything, Sokka stepped forward, deftly avoiding Toph's outstretched hand which was trying to stop him, ignoring her hiss of disapproval.

A sudden hush fell through the crowd as every pair of eyes turned to look at the lone person now standing in front of the sobbing boy. Even the fire nation guard seemed to be taken aback.

"Stop this." Sokka spoke up calmly, "This boy didn't steal your food and even if he did, trying to fry him is not the punishment he deserves."

The guard eyed him with surprise and slowly a smile began to spread on his face.

"Aah... And who might you be?" he sneered, "Some kind of hero?"

"Doesn't matter who I am," Sokka replied, "You have no right to march up here and try to kill somebody."

A murmur of fear and surprise went through the crowd and Aang could feel a sudden tension fall upon them, so thick he felt he could almost touch it if he stretched out his hand.

The guard was no longer smiling.

"I have no time to deal with scum like you!" he roared and before anyone could even react, a bright orange flame leapt through the air, heading straight towards Sokka.

Sokka could see the fire rushing towards him, could feel the heat almost burning the air around him; it was as if time had suddenly gone still and all Sokka could think of was trying to get the child out of harm's way. He flung himself on top of the boy, trying to shield him with his body and waited for the fire to seer through his skin; waiting for the pain to explode through his body but it never came.

He opened his eyes in confusion, looking down at the frightened boy in his arms who was looking up at him with bright teary eyes. He let him down gently and immediately the boy scurried away, squeezing in through the crowd of people.

Sokka looked up to see Aang and Toph standing in between himself and the guard who was still standing with his right arm outstretched and with an equally surprised look on his face, water dripping down his hair.

Realization dawned on Sokka as he could see Aang in a very familiar waterbending pose.

"Aang.. no…!" Sokka muttered in disbelief.

"Shut it Snoozles" Toph remarked. Sokka could sense the tension in her; with her bending being limited, they would be in a serious disadvantage if a fight were to break out.

Suddenly they could hear the sounds of jet skis and immediately the crowd began to run and scatter. In the confusion that followed, Aang grabbed hold of Sokka and together with Toph they made a mad dash through the streets, mingling in with the scattering crowd of people.

xxxxx

Katara had been waiting for the door to open and as soon as the guard pushed the plate of food through the cell bars and left, Katara ran towards it. Breathlessly she picked up the fire melon and neglecting the rest of the food, she walked over to the corner, her heart hammering in her chest. Making sure no one was watching her, she closed her eyes and concentrating hard she pulled the water out of the fruit, leaving a mass of pulp in her hand. She gazed at the water in wonder, her bizarre plan seeming more and more plausible with every passing minute.

xxxxxxxxx

"What were you thinking?" Toph yelled, her anger scaring Momo as he ran over to hide in Aang's shirt.

"I was not thinking anything all right?" Sokka remarked, trying not to get angry and shout back.

"Obviously not!" Toph replied, furious. "It was lucky that we could escape from that mess. If it was not for Aang, you would have been.."

"I would have been what?" Sokka snapped sharply, his anger finally managing to crack through.

"Dead? Yes, I am aware of that."

Toph didn't say anything and for the rest of the journey, an uneasy silence fell upon them, the only sounds being Momo's chattering and the wind blowing through their hair as Appa soared higher into the air.

"Look Sokka", Aang began when the silence finally got so heavy that it was suffocating. "What you did was brave no doubt but it was quite stupid too."

Sokka looked at the young Avatar, the irony of the situation not lost on him. He was the plan guy, the guy who always thought things through and would analyze a situation twice before making any moves. And here he was, suddenly a victim of impulsiveness; a rash move which might have cost them so much.

"I am not like you guys" Sokka began. "I know I have no abilities and watching the child there... looking scared and all alone, I didn't know what else to do."

Aang looked at him nervously; this was unusual territory for him. He had never heard Sokka sounding and looking so dejected.

"It's just…all you guys can do this awesome bending stuff and flying around, and making other stuff fly around. I can't fly around, ok ." he remarked bitterly. "I can't do anything"

"That's a lie and you know it." Aang insisted heatedly.

"I used to think I was a warrior..." Sokka continued. "What sort of a warrior am I if I couldn't even protect a child without help from you guys?"

"But.." Aang began.

"I couldn't even protect Katara." He added softly, making Aang stop in mid sentence.

The silence that followed was much more uncomfortable than the one before.

xxxxx

Katara was ready. She had waited patiently in her cell, watching the full moon rise higher and higher into the sky, waiting for the silence of the night to completely engulf the capital city before she could make a move. Now as the heavy silence of the night fell, she slowly got up from the corner and made her way over to the iron bars of the prison. She stood there for a long time, trying to listen to any sound but apart from the far cry of the night owl, the whole place was silent.

Taking in a deep breath, she got to work. Slowly she took out the fruits that she had hidden and with a flick of her right hand, sucked the water out of them. It was not much but it will do. Moving her hands with practiced ease, she bent the water to cover as much of the iron as it could and concentrating hard, she blew a gust of air through her mouth, freezing it solidly over the rod. A small forceful jab was all it took for the bar to shatter.

She waited for a few heart stopping moments, expecting the door to bang open any second. Minutes ticked by and when nothing happened, she slowly let out a sigh of relief.

xxxx

Zuko threw away the sheets in frustrations and swung his legs over the bed. It was no use, he just couldn't sleep. Grabbing his hooded cloak, he stepped out of his bed. He didn't know why he was doing this again but try as hard as he could, he just couldn't stop thinking about how he had shouted at his uncle. Again.

Zuko let out a sigh, running his fingers through his hair and against his better judgment; he stepped out in the courtyard, heading towards the prison towers.

xxxxx

Katara was running flat out, her footsteps sounding unnaturally loud to her in the quiet moonlit night. Every few seconds, she turned back to see if she was being followed but in her haste she failed to notice the shadow that was moving away from the rooftop of the prison tower.

Panic and euphoria was making her heart beat painfully in her chest, making her gasp for air with every step she took. Her right arm was slowly starting to hurt where the prison guard had managed to hit her with his fire blast before going down; she was lucky to have caught him by surprise otherwise she shuddered to think what might have happened. That was something she had not counted on; her plan was to sneak out unnoticed but now that she had to knock a guard unconscious, all sorts of doubt and worry began to plague her once again.

What was she doing? She shook her head, trying to stay calm and not let despair take hold of her as her feet pounded the ground. The first thing she needed to do was to put as much distance as she could between herself and the prison. And she needed to get to some water. Fast. So preoccupied was she in her thoughts that she failed to notice the protruding root and before she could catch her balance, she tumbled straight down, rolling down the path into the trees. Her body hit hard against a tree trunk and for a blinding moment, she could see stars in her head, pain ripping through her already injured arm.

She lay there for a minute, gasping for breath, trying to blink the bright lights out of her eyes. She had no idea how far she had rolled down, she could hardly see the embankment anymore and everywhere she looked, she could see tall trees blocking out the moonlight. There was an odd buzzing in her ear and she shook her head, trying to clear out the sound but it refused to go. It took her a while to realize that the buzzing was not in her ears but it was more like a gargling sound, coming from somewhere to her left. Slowly she got on her feet, wincing slightly at the pain. And then she saw it. For a second she thought she might be hallucinating but even after shaking her head to clear the cobwebs, she could still see it.

A small stream! Water!

She almost ran towards it, disbelief sketched on her face but a sudden spell of dizziness made her fall on her knees; but she was not going to give up. Crawling on her hands and feet she made her way towards the water's edge and could see the moon reflecting off the tiny creek. A powerful wave of relief swept through her and despite everything she could find herself smiling.

Now she had a fighting chance.

xxx

Sokka lay awake for a long time. He tried to close his eyes to get some sleep but every time he managed to doze off, he woke with a start; a sudden panic seizing him from within. Ever since the incident with the fire nation guard, he had been unable to stop his mind from thinking. Every single thought went back to Katara's helpless face, to that poor child's wide eyed tears. He tried to think of something else but no matter what, his thoughts refused to let go.

So there he was, lying on his back, looking up at the silver moon and long forgotten images of Yue's face began to form in his mind's eye.

"_You didn't protect me"_

Sokka swore loudly, making Aang grunt in his sleep.

xxx

Zuko stopped abruptly; a sudden unease settling upon him. He looked over to his left, unsure as to what caught his eye. Slowly he crept over to the shadows casted by the tress and hiding behind it, he peeked out cautiously. He couldn't see anything but he knew instinctively that something was not right; even the air around him felt really tense. He took a step backward and his feet fell on a twig, snapping it in two. He froze on the spot, his heart suddenly hammering in his chest and then he saw it, a silent figure darting through the woods; followed by a couple more. Even from where he stood, he had no trouble figuring out who they were. The Dai Li. What were they doing in the middle of the night? Weren't they assigned to keep an eye on the prisoners? Suddenly Zuko's mouth went dry: Uncle!

No! Uncle wouldn't do something this stupid! But he had to find out! Throwing caution to the wind, Zuko darted out of the shadows and started running towards where he saw the Dai Li just a few seconds before. Wild thoughts started chasing each other in his mind, each progressively worse than the other. Uncle wouldn't attempt to break out… he thought forcefully, he knew better than that. He could feel the ground beneath him rumble a bit as he neared the trees next to the embankment and against his better judgment, he ran straight down the side of the road, ready to jump in to defend his uncle if the need arose.

What he saw instead made his jaw drop in shock. The Dai Li had surrounded a lone person in the middle of the clearing, next to the small stream. He could smell the dust and the wet smell of earth surrounding them and even though outnumbered, he could clearly see the defiant blue of her eyes, as if daring them to try to stop her.

He watched as she successfully broke through the earthen gloves the Dai Li were throwing towards her, how she whirled around fiercely making the water from the stream form into ice daggers and fling them towards the earth benders. Zuko knew it was hopeless; she was out numbered 6 to 1! He shook his head… this girl was crazy and he had no desire to step into a fight that was not his own.

He turned his back on the fight and was just taking a step back when the air suddenly was pierced by a cry of pain. Against his better judgment, he whipped around to find the earth benders had disabled Katara and had her on her knees; her hands and feet tied behind her back, effectively cutting off her bending. That should put a stop to this nonsense, Zuko thought grimly but something about the look on the Dai Li's face made him stop in his tracks. They didn't look like they wanted any prisoners; in fact if he didn't know better it almost felt as if they wanted to end things here itself; permanently. His eyes opened wide in shock as one of the Dai Li bended his earthen glove to clutch Katara's throat; making her choke and gasp for air.

For a few seconds Zuko was rooted to the spot, horrified. The air was filled with Katara's painful gasps and rattling struggling breaths as she desperately tried to fill her lungs with air, without any success. Zuko ran an angry hand through his hair; he didn't know what to do! Katara let out a horrific raspy sound as she fell to her sides and even from that distance Zuko could see her face slowly turning blue. Zuko had no choice; with a frustrated sigh, he launched himself in the air, his kick unleashing a powerful blast of fire towards the earth bender who was strangling her.

The Dai Li staggered back in shock, releasing their hold on Katara. Zuko landed in front of her, facing the Dai Li; his body already in a fighting stance. He had no idea what he was doing or why he was doing it in the first place; all he was aware of was the slow anger burning inside him. How dare they take on a defense less person and try to kill her? How dare they even try to think they would get away with killing someone! Anyone! What if this was uncle? Would they have done the same thing?

"You better start explaining what's going on" he demanded angrily "And it better be a very good explanation."

The Dai Li went down on their left knee, bowing their heads before him.

"Prince Zuko" one of them spoke up "We were given orders to keep an eye on the prisoners."

"This is not keeping an eye" Zuko growled, "This would have been murder! How dare you try to take the Fire Nation laws into your own hands?"

He could hear Katara rasping behind him, taking in shuddering breaths of air.

"We were ordered to kill anyone who would try to escape" The Dai Li agent spoke up again.

Zuko almost reeled back in shock.

"What?" he snapped angrily. "I didn't hear anything about this from father!"

"It was direct orders from the Princess." The earth bender continued.

Azula! He should have known. He glared at them angrily, his hands almost shaking with anger. What else was there he didn't know?

"Well I am giving you a direct order now" He said through gritted teeth, "Take the prisoner back to her cell and I don't want any of you trying to strangle or kill her in any way. Is that understood?"

The Dai Li looked at each other uncomfortably.

"Is that clear?" Zuko was surprised how cold his voice sounded even to his own ears.

The Dai Li bowed their heads. A couple of them went and dragged Katara to her feet but she was determined not to go down so easily. She struggled fiercely against their grasp, trying to break free, angry tears spilling out of her eyes.

Zuko chose not to say anything; in fact he didn't trust himself to speak at all. He turned his back on her as the Dai Li dragged her screaming and fighting towards the prison towers. Someone must have covered her mouth for her shrill voice suddenly got muffled and after a while all Zuko could hear was the sudden ringing silence around him.

Book 3: Fire

Chapter 4

Sokka's master.


	5. Chapter 5

Thanks for the great reviews guys! I am glad you are liking it so far.

I apologize for the delay with this chapter; it took me much longer to finish this then I had expected.

I have been getting quite a lot of questions regarding the canon and I just wanted to clarify it: Everything that happened in canon is still there, exactly the way it did in the show. The only changes to the canon is what I have written so far. For example, in this chapter, I have not detailed Sokka and Piandao's every interaction, putting just bits and pieces there. That does not mean that the interactions didn't happen. It did and since everyone already knows how that turns out, I did not put much effort in describing those parts again.

If I have changed anything from canon, I have explicitly described it in the chapters.

So hopefully that clears up the doubts

And so here it is: the next chapter.

* * *

><p>The next morning found Aang, Toph and Sokka finally stopping at a fire nation town to get some food. The atmosphere still seemed a bit tense around them but after a nice lunch, they were feeling decidedly much more content. Except Sokka.<p>

"Sokka" Aang began, "Not eating your smoked sea slug is not going to help anyone."

Sokka grunted in response, not even bothering to look down at his plate.

"We need to get some supplies" Toph offered; "And we need to start asking questions and probing around if we are going to find out where they have taken Sugar queen."

"We better get a start then," Sokka replied standing up.

* * *

><p>Zuko was fuming.<p>

The events of last night were still fresh on his mind and his anger at Azula was nearing new proportions. Lying to their father about Zuko killing the Avatar was bad enough. And now this! Since when did Azula start ordering soldiers to kill prisoners of war? Is that even allowed?

He really didn't want to know what might have happened if he hadn't shown up. And what was that water tribe girl thinking? Zuko snarled angrily, starting to pace up and down his room.

* * *

><p>"Maybe a little something to reinvigorate my battling" Sokka remarked.<p>

He eagerly reached out to pick up a nanchaku from one of the display rack in the weapons store they were currently in. With renewed glee, Sokka gave the weapon a good twirl, accidently hitting himself on his head.

Aang tried to suppress a smile. Coming over to the weapons store was a good idea. It definitely helped lift up Sokka's spirits. He himself was quite tempted to try out the big, heavy shiny suit of armor he had seen at the corner of the store. He was still debating whether to give it a shot or not when suddenly there was a loud thud behind him. Turning around he saw Sokka lying on the floor, wrapped up in an iron chain.

"I don't think this is working for you." Toph remarked, picking her nose casually.

"At least help me get untangled" Sokka said, struggling to get into a sitting position. Toph took hold of the metal chain with both her hands and helped pull Sokka up on to his feet.

Suddenly Sokka's eyes fell on an ornate sword placed on the sword rack, its smooth cold steel reflecting the sun light on to his eyes.

"Ooooo" Sokka let out an impressed whistle, walking over to the sword rack. It was framed and placed higher than the rest of the swords; a closer inspection showing a dragon depicted in the scabbard and a lot of intricate delicate carvings on its hilt.

His eyes shone as he looked at the sword. "That's what's Sokka's talking about"

"You have a good eye," the shopkeeper remarked. "That's an original from Piandao; the greatest sword master and sword maker in Fire nation history. He lives in the big castle up the road from here."

"That's it" Aang suddenly spoke up. "That's what you needed all along Sokka."

"A sword?" Sokka asked, his eyes glued to the one on the wall.

"Not the sword," Aang continued. "A master. We've all had masters to help us get better. You should see if you can study with Piandao."

"I don't know…" Sokka muttered, taking the sword down from the rack. "Can we really afford to waste our time here just so I could learn sword fighting?"

"It's not a waste of time" Aang replied, "We have to start asking questions around anyway."

"Yes," Toph agreed, "It will take time to find out all the information that we want about prisoners of war. You might as well take the opportunity to brush up on your fighting skills."

Sokka said nothing, his eyes still fixed on the sword in his hands.

* * *

><p>Katara was furious with herself. Stupid! Stupid! What was she thinking? How could she have even imagined she could get out of here on her own? She was in the middle of the fire nation capital city; even if she had managed to escape, where would she have gone? She had no idea where everyone else was anyway. She could almost hear Sokka's voice in her head: "Did you even think this through?"<p>

No, she had not. The excitement of the moment had driven all other rational thoughts out of her mind. All she had wanted to do was to get out of the prison and she never really gave any thoughts as to what she would do afterwards. In her defense, she didn't really know the Dai Li would have shown up. A couple of fire nation guards here and there she could have managed but 7 elite Dai Li agents! She shook her head; she should have known the prisoners were placed under strict surveillance; there was no way that only one guard would have been keeping an eye on them during the night.

She suppressed a shudder, her hand unconsciously rising to her neck where the red marks were still visible on her skin. She refused to think what had happened, forcefully trying to bring her thoughts to anything else apart from the fact that she had to be rescued. Warm hot shame flooded through her, humiliation and anger carousing through her very being; to think she had to be rescued by the one person she hated the most in her life! She would have preferred to have been killed instead! She gripped her arms in anger, sudden tears seeping down her cheeks.

* * *

><p>Aang and Toph had spent the better part of the past three hours trying to gather any information that they could regarding prisoners of war but with no luck. Either the town people really didn't know anything about it or they were too scared to talk about war prisoners. Aang let out a frustrated sigh; this was harder than he thought. They had to be really careful with their interrogation as well, it was not like they could march up to just about anybody and demand that they answer their questions. Trying to get answers without making anyone suspicious as to why a couple of kids from the earth kingdom colonies were so eager to know about prisoners of war was hard work.<p>

"That's the last of the taverns in this town", Toph remarked, joining Aang as they walked out of the raucous crowd inside. "And not a single peep about Sugar Queen or any other prisoners for that matter."

"This is frustrating", Aang admitted "and every minute we waste, Katara might be getting further and further away from us."

"Don't worry," Toph spoke up reassuringly "We will find her. Let's try the market place next."

Aang nodded, he will not give up hope. With renewed vigor, he followed Toph as she led the way to the busy market streets.

* * *

><p>"You are not doing a very good job of selling yourself"<p>

The master swordsman glanced at the young boy kneeling in front of him, confused and at the same time intrigued. He has had many an aspiring swordsman come to his door, requesting him to help perfect their swordsmanship, to help mould them into unbeatable warriors. He has seen many who had tried to impress him with eloquent languages, self praise and in some cases even money. To say that he had thrown them out of his estate would be an understatement.

"I know" Sokka spoke dejected, "Your butler told me that when I met you, I would have to prove my worth. But the truth is… I don't know if I am worthy."

Piandao raised an eyebrow. Now that was a new one.

"Hmm.. I see," This one is definitely unlike the other ones. "Well then," he picks up his sword "Let's find out together how worthy you are."

Sokka couldn't believe his ears. His face broke into a huge smile and for the first time in days, his heart felt light and happy.

"I will train you."

* * *

><p>After fuming in rage for hours, Zuko had finally decided not to say anything to Azula. She was playing one of her mind games on him again and he was not going to give her the satisfaction of knowing she was getting under his skin. Sitting under the shade of the trees, he instead decided to spend his time feeding the turtle ducks. It was what his mother used to do whenever she was feeling conflicted and after a few minutes, Zuko found himself relaxing a little.<p>

By now everyone was aware of what had happened last night. How Katara had tried to escape and how the Dai Li had captured her and brought her back to prison. He was however surprised when no one mentioned his name in the incident; he had expected the whole palace to be in an uproar about it. In fact he was half expecting his father to summon him to the throne room and explain what he was doing there in the middle of the night helping out one of the prisoners.

The turtle ducks which had been feeding on the pieces of bread that Zuko had thrown in the pond suddenly started quacking in fright. Zuko glanced up to see his sister walking towards him and immediately he could feel his anger rise up again. Resolutely he ripped the other half of the bread and threw it at the pond but the turtle ducks had already taken flight and were at the far side of the pond by the time Azula had made it over to where Zuko was sitting.

"So..." she began "I heard you had quite an adventure last night."

Zuko bit his tongue; he wanted to deny it but he knew she must have already got every little detail from her Dai Li pets.

Azula eyed him for a few seconds waiting for him to reply back but Zuko kept his mouth shut. Sighing, Azula turned and started walking back to the courtyard. Zuko looked at her retreating figure and before he could stop himself, he spat out "Why did you do it?"

Azula stopped on her tracks. She turned back to look at her brother with a satisfied smirk on her face.

"This is getting old brother dear."

Zuko was done trying to be calm. He rose to his feet, slightly surprised that he was not spitting fire at the moment. He took three huge steps and stood right in front of his sister.

"It sure is. I am sick and tired of you hiding stuff from me" He growled.

"Are you trying to intimidate me?" she replied, her smirk faltering a bit as a tiny flash of anger passed through her eyes.

"No," Zuko snarled, "I am trying to get you to answer my question. Why did you order the Dai Li to kill anyone who would try to escape? Do you have any idea about the ramifications of killing prisoners of war?"

Azula stared at Zuko, incredulous.

"Let me get this straight," Azula said slowly. "You are lecturing me about politics?"

In spite of himself, Zuko could feel his face go red with embarrassment. "Ok fine…" he replied. "Leaving politics aside, why did you do it?"

"I don't have to answer to you." She frowned, her voice dangerously low.

"Yes you do." Zuko replied firmly, "When it comes to Uncle, you do."

"I don't recall Uncle Fatso being the one making a run for it last night."

"Does it matter?" Zuko's anger was getting the better of him once again. "If it was Uncle, they would have still tried to kill him!"

"For someone so devoted to a traitor, you seem to have very little confidence in his abilities." Azula remarked, her face suddenly turning serious.

Zuko was struck dumb.

"You really think a bunch of Dai Li will be able to hold Uncle back if he decides to break out of prison?" she continued, her eyes never leaving Zuko's face. "They won't have a chance; the only way they could even hope to capture him is if they go after him with the intent to kill."

Long forgotten memories of Ba Sing Se suddenly flared in Zuko's mind; how Iroh had single handedly managed to flee from a group of Dai Li agents who had cornered and trapped him and Zuko at the Earth King's palace under the pretext of serving tea.

"I never thought it would be the water tribe girl who tries to break out instead." Azula smirked, "Such a shame you had to interfere when things were finally getting interesting."

Zuko glared at her, suddenly wanting to be as far away from her as possible.

* * *

><p>Sokka was exhausted. It had been a very long day. He had no idea learning how to use a sword would be so much hard work; not only did he have to convince himself to think of the sword as an extension of his arm, he also had to learn calligraphy. Granted his attempt at "stamping the paper with his own identity" was not what someone would call "refined" but Master Piandao didn't seem too disappointed.<p>

At least his day was more eventful than the other two. Aang and Toph had spent the whole day trying to find out information about Katara with no luck. Aang looked dejected and Toph was clearly frustrated with the lack of progress but Sokka had already anticipated this.

So Sokka had tried to keep them entertained with his stories during dinner that night, finally managing to get a chuckle out of Toph at how he was thoroughly humiliated by one of Piandao's pupil and had to literally run to save his hide. Aang was smiling too by the end of dinner.

"Master said tomorrow he is going to try a new technique with me" Sokka continued, his eyes lighting up at the thought. "I hope he teaches me how to use dual swords."

Toph snorted. "I don't think so."

"Yeah," Aang nodded. "It's just been one day; dual swords might be a little too advanced."

Sokka spluttered in indignation but before he could open his mouth to say anything, suddenly the sky lit up with thousands of falling stars as a meteor shower streaked through the night sky.

"Wow…" Aang gasped, looking up at the spectacular show. "A meteor shower! I have never seen so many falling stars."

"I have heard about falling stars," Toph replied, "You have seen nothing once; you have seen it a thousand times."

Sokka said nothing, his eyes glued to the night sky. It was during moments like this when the realization hits him as to how insignificant they really are. A sudden flare to the right caught his eye and he turned his head to see a huge meteorite hurtling towards the earth. Aang quickly scrambled up on his feet as the meteorite passed over their head, sparkling blue and yellow in the dark and crashed with an earth shattering boom. Sokka was already running towards Appa when Toph and Aang joined him. Even from there, they could see the orange glow of the fire and the dark smoke rising up the air.

"The fire is gonna destroy the town!" Sokka shouted, gripping on to Appa's saddle as Aang directed Appa through the air.

"Not if we can help it!" Aang replied, flying over to the nearby creek and bending a huge bulb of water and racing towards the crash site.

"Toph, can you make a trench to stop the fire from moving any further?"

Toph gave a nod and as soon as Appa landed, she raced over to the huge billowing fire and with practiced earth bending stance, began to move the earth quickly to make a huge trench. Aang pulled Appa back in the air and hovering over the fire, he let the water fall on it and at the same time, blew a gust of wind through his mouth. The water turned into snow instantly and extinguished the fire almost as soon as it made contact.

* * *

><p>It had become almost second nature for Zuko to wake up at the crack of dawn; however, it didn't help if he couldn't sleep the whole night. He had fallen into fits of sleep here and there, always waking up feeling groggy and disoriented. It had made him almost sick to the stomach at how casually Azula had talked yesterday afternoon about getting someone killed, as if it was not a person but a thing she was talking about. Sometimes he wondered if she had any soul at all.<p>

He was flat on his back, his eyes still closed as he tried to rub the slow headache out of his temples. He knew the war had consequences, soldiers in the battle field laid down their lives almost every single day. Lu Ten… his heart clenched at the memory and he forcefully opened his eyes and sat up straight on his bed.

Dying in the battle field and killing someone in cold blood was two different things; he had understood this difference since he was 12 years old. Wasn't that the reason why he was burned and banished in the first place? Because he believed it was wrong to sacrifice people's life in cold blood just to gain a tactical advantage? His banishment was supposed to teach him the error of his ways and thoughts but even now, did he really think it was a mistake to speak up against the crazy plan to willingly slaughter the soldiers of the fire nation?

He shook his head; is this what it means to be accepted by his father? That you become like a soul less monster? Isn't betraying Uncle the same as becoming a soul less monster?

A chill went down his spine at the thought.

* * *

><p>After yesterday's fruitless efforts to gather information, Aang's spirits were not so high as he and Toph made their way back to the town. He nodded absent mindedly at whatever Toph was saying, his thoughts on Katara. Their plan for the day was the same as yesterday; Sokka went to train with his master while the two of them tried to see if they could get anything out of the townspeople.<p>

"Are you listening to me?" Toph snapped, bringing Aang's thoughts back to the present.

"Sorry Toph", Aang replied, "My mind was somewhere else."

Toph turned her sightless eyes towards him and for a second Aang almost felt as if she was reading through his very thoughts. He didn't know whether he liked it or not.

"Listen Aang," Toph sighed. "We are all worried about Katara. You are not the only one."

Aang nodded his head, his hands absentmindedly tucking in Momo's ears into his shirt.

"Leaving her behind almost killed Sokka", she continued "But it's a war out there and we all have to make sacrifices… for the greater good."

"I know that Toph" Aang replied with a defeated sigh. "It's just that… "

"Just what?" Toph remarked. "You feel guilty that she gave up her freedom in exchange for your life. Is that what you are getting at?"

Aang didn't say anything. How can he explain what he was feeling? He couldn't explain it to himself.

"You don't understand" Aang began. "If I had been able to master the Avatar state, none of this would have happened. I could have protected them all."

He took a long breath; shuddering at the memories of his training with Guru Pathik. His recklessness had cost them all dearly.

"Let me ask you something." Toph spoke up "If the same set of events were to repeat itself, would you have done the same thing?"

Aang looked at his earth bending teacher, a little taken aback. Would he have? Would he have chosen Katara over cosmic energy?

"Yes" he replied, suddenly feeling much better, "Yes, I would have."

"There you have it," Toph smiled, turning her back on him and starting to walk towards the town again. "Now, let's get started."

* * *

><p>Sokka stumbled over something and almost cursed out loud but Piandao's firm hand on his shoulder held him steady. He sighed, wishing he could take the blindfold off of his eyes.<p>

"Why are we doing this again master?" he asked for what was the fifth time. All he could feel was grass underneath his feet and he could hear the roar of what sounded like a thousand waterfalls.

Piandao chose not to answer, instead guiding his blind folded pupil over to the edge of the cliff. "Landscape painting teaches a warrior to hold the lay of the land in his mind." He finally spoke up.

Sokka could feel Piandao pull the blindfold off his eyes, the sudden light of the day blinding him momentarily.

"In battle you only have an instant to take everything in." Piandao continued as Sokka finally opened his eyes. What he saw almost made his breath stop in amazement: in front of him was what he could only imagine to be one of the most beautiful natural wonder he has seen so far in his young life. A huge river flowing down into a canyon making a spectacular waterfall, the white rushing waters sounding like the roar of a hundred dragons.

Before he could even marvel at the scene before him, Piandao firmly grabbed his head and turned him around. Sokka had a brief moment where he glimpsed a table in front loaded with paper, paint and paint brushes before Piandao pushed him to sit in front of it.

"Now, paint it. And no peeking"

* * *

><p>Warden Poon was in a very good mood. He always knew Lee was a hopeless case. He had tried to complain to anyone who would listen to remove him from his night post but no one had paid him any attention. Now during Lee's watch, a prisoner had no only managed to make a run for it but had also managed to knock Lee unconscious. He would have sung out loud if the situation was not so serious but that didn't stop him from grinning smugly at the bread he was eating.<p>

The only thing he regretted was that it was not the General who tried to escape; it would have been so much more dramatic if the Dai Li had dragged that crazy old fool back into his prison cell. He could almost imagine the defeated look on Iroh's face and his grin widened further.

His happy thoughts were however interrupted by what sounded like clapping. Poon frowned, putting his bread down and trying to listen to the sound. There it was; a clap, repeated every few seconds. Poon stood up in anger, it was that damn fool again. He marched over to Iroh's cell and looked in through the barred window to the cell room.

"What's going on in there?" he growled.

When Iroh didn't reply, he looked in to see the old General clapping randomly; a vacant look on his face.

"Crazy old man." He spat.

He didn't see the former general smirk as he walked back.

* * *

><p>"This town is a little too far from the capital city", the fruits merchant spoke up. "People here hardly have any interest in prisoners of war."<p>

"But you must know someone who might be able to help us." Aang remarked. After asking around for hours, they finally found someone who was willing to talk to them about the war. All the other townsfolk had avoided them like the plague as soon as they talk about the war and no matter how discreet they were, word seemed to have spread about them. People were hurrying away from them before they could even open their mouths. Dejected, they were almost on the verge of giving up when they came across the fruits merchant.

"There might be one guy," the fruits merchant said thoughtfully. "He is from the next village but he comes in every week or so to buy ash bananas. He might be able to tell you something."

"Where can we find him?"

"Unfortunately, it's almost time for the full moon. He won't be here this week."

Aang looked at Toph in confusion. "What has the full moon got to do with buying ash bananas?"

"Village superstition if you ask me" the merchant said off handedly. "But that's all I can tell you."

Which is nothing; Aang wanted to say in frustration but stopped when Toph punched him hard on his shoulder.

"Thanks for the help" Aang grumbled, rubbing his shoulder.

They both bowed to him and left with a bunch of ash bananas.

"I don't like ash bananas" Aang whined as they trudged back to their campsite, the afternoon sun cooling down a bit as the evening approached.

"That was the least we could do." Toph remarked, as Momo jumped off Aang's shoulder and rushed towards Appa, a tiny bunch of ash bananas in his hands.

Aang flopped down next to Appa, letting out a tired sigh. It had been a long day and as far as he was concerned, completely useless. He hoped Sokka's day was going better than his.

"Sokka's coming!" Toph suddenly exclaimed.

Aang could see Sokka walking up to their campsite and he got up just in time to see Toph blush a brilliant shade of red. He stared at her.

"Hey guys!" Sokka spoke up as he made his way in. "What are you doing here? Did you get any useful information?"

"Not really." Aang replied slowly, his eyes still on Toph.

"Actually…" Toph began "I think we found out that we are wasting our time asking questions here. We might have to move on to the other towns nearby if we hope to get any information on anyone."

"Let's move out tomorrow then" Sokka agreed, nodding his head.

"What about your training?" Aang asked, finally tearing his eyes away from Toph.

"Actually that's why I am here. I need some help."

* * *

><p>The afternoon sun shone lazily, its light filtering in through the massive windows into the large room. Piandao had presented the sword in Sokka's hands, the sword that Sokka had spent the entire last night working on, carefully making it out of the meteorite that Aang and Toph had helped him bring over.<p>

Sokka, however, had his head lowered in shame. He couldn't do it… he just couldn't.

"I am sorry, Master" he finally spoke into the silence. "I am not worthy. I am not who you think I am. I am from the Southern Water Tribe. I lied so that I could learn swordsmanship from you. I am sorry."

Piandao frowned at his student and sighing sadly, he turned his back on him.

"I am sorry too."

Sokka just had enough time to hear his master speak, when suddenly Piandao turned back and swung the sword at him. Sokka stumbled to dodge the attack, taking several steps backward. He instinctively raised his sheath to block another swing from Piandao, finally standing his ground.

Aang and Toph had jumped on to their feet, alarmed at the sudden attack but before they could take another step forward to help Sokka, he stopped them both on their tracks.

"No, this is my fight. Alone."

* * *

><p>Zuko had always hated walking through the halls of the palace ever since he was a kid; it felt as if the wall to ceiling portraits of the previous firelords were staring down at him. He still remembered how Azula had one day managed to hide behind one of the statues in the hall and had jumped out at him while he was looking up at the scary picture of his great grandfather. The fright that it gave him… he was never the same again.<p>

A small smile graced his face as his thoughts went back to that day; Azula had gotten him that time and she had gotten him good. Her laughter had followed him as he ran in tears to his mother's arms and how his mother had comforted him; gently scolding Azula for scaring her brother. Somehow, even after all these years, he still remembered that one tiny moment when Azula's laughter had faltered at their mother's words and how for a second she almost looked heartbroken; but the next second she had stuck her tongue out at them and had ran down the hall.

Zuko closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose. Those days were long gone; his mother was long gone and that small girl trying to scare her brother had grown into one of the most ruthless and cold blooded person he had ever known. He sighed; Uncle had been right all along, destiny sure is a funny thing. He ignored the familiar stab of pain that had been ripping his heart every time his thoughts went back to his uncle and with resolved determination; he continued walking down the hallway, making his way to the courtyard.

* * *

><p>Sokka lay on the ground, panting, his eyes wide with fear as he looked up at the tip of the sword Piandao had pointed towards his head. He had put up quite a fight but in the end, experience and mastery had won over youth and resourcefulness. He glanced at his now discarded sword, lying almost a feet away from him; there was no way he could even reach it.<p>

He squinted through the sunlight reflecting off the open blade of the sword and from the corner of his eye he could see Toph running towards him, closely followed by Aang. He had to get up on his feet, fast. Before he could do anything however, Piandao removed the sword from his face.

"Excellent work Sokka"

Sokka stared at him, dumbstruck.

Still blinded by the sand that Sokka had thrown in his eyes, Piandao raised his hand and signaled Fat. Fat tossed the scabbard of the sword towards him and without even missing a beat, Piandao swung on the spot, turning the tip of the sword towards the scabbard and with a smooth click, the scabbard settled right onto the blade of the sword.

"I think I am a little too old to be fighting the Avatar." Piandao continued, wiping the dirt off this face.

Anag looked at him in surprise, still in his fighting stance.

"How did you know?" he asked as he slowly let go of his bending stance.

"Oh I have been around a while," he replied casually, "You pick things up. Of course I knew from the beginning that Sokka was water tribe. You might want to think of a better Fire Nation cover name. Try "Lee". There are a million "Lees".

Sokka slowly got up on to his feet. "But why would you agree to train someone from the Water tribe?" he asked, curios.

"The way of the sword does not belong to any one nation." He replied. "Knowledge of the arts belongs to us all."

He walked over to Sokka and gently placed his hands on his shoulders.

"Sokka, you must continue your training on your own. If you stay on this path then one day you will become and even greater master than I am."

Sokka looked up at his master, overwhelmed.

"Thank you Master."

"And yes, before you go, I want you to have something." He continued. Fat walked up behind Piandao and placed a tiny bag on his outstretched hand.

"What is it?" Sokka asked, curiously opening up the tiny bag. He pulled out a single Pi sho tile, the curved lotus gleaming in the afternoon sun.

"The white lotus tile?" Sokka asked, confused. "What does it mean?"

"If the need arises, you will find out." Piandao replied.

* * *

><p>Zuko looked over his shoulder cautiously, trying to see if he was being followed. He knew he was being stupid by trying to sneak into the prison towers so soon after Katara's break out effort but he had to talk to his Uncle. He ducked under the shadows and ran up the stairs, taking two at a time. Coming up the corner, he could see one of the Fire nation guards standing over the ledge, looking down the open yard he had just ran across. Without making a sound, he turned and walked down the stone corridor to the prison cell that his uncle was locked in.<p>

He stood outside the cell room door for a few seconds, his hand on the door knob, trying to organize his thoughts. Why exactly did he want to talk to his Uncle? What was he thinking? He closed his eyes and turned the knob halfway through and then hesitated. Something was not right. He instinctively turned and looked towards the other prison door, staring at it for a few seconds, his right hand still on the unturned knob to Iroh's cell. Behind that door was the prison cell that Katara was locked in and it seemed like a century had passed since the time he had accidently came across her, the memory of her face and her white knuckles as she had held on to the prison bar in anger still looming over his thoughts.

He had no idea why he was doing it but he found himself walking towards her cell instead. Slowly he opened the door that led to her prison cell and taking a deep breath, he peered inside. He expected her to be sitting on the floor, her eyes wide with anger and his body instinctively went into a defensive stance. He stepped into the room, unconsciously expecting a wave of water to come and hit him hard on his face but when he looked into the cell, it was…

Empty.

He stared at the prison cell for a few seconds, blinking his eyes in surprise. What was going on?

He hurried over to the cell, stupidly looking inside to see if she was there. A sudden wave of panic hit his guts and he scrambled on to his feet and dashed outside. Throwing caution to the wind, he made a mad dash towards the guard towers, where just moments before he had seen a fire nation guard keeping watch.

The guard turned towards him in alarm, his spear pointing towards his face.

"Prince Zuko!" The guard exclaimed, immediately kneeling down in front of him.

"Where is she?" Zuko asked, a little surprised to find his voice shaking a bit. "Where did they take her?"

The guard kept his head bowed, refusing to look the Prince at his face.

"It was the Princess's orders." He spoke up fearfully, "The Water Tribe prisoner was taken to the Boiling Rock."

Zuko could not figure out whether the thrill that ran up his body was due to terror or dismay.

Book 3: Fire

Chapter 5

The Beach.

* * *

><p>Reviews are always appreciated :)<p> 


	6. Chapter 6

Aang looked at Sokka hopelessly; trying to figure out a way to talk to him without getting Toph suspicious. He knew Sokka would understand; Toph had been driving him up the wall with her relentless training exercises. He rubbed his shoulder gingerly; it was still hurting from the rock that had managed to graze him when Toph had him momentarily trapped from all sides. Although he knew he had to use earth bending, survival instincts took over and he ended up blasting the rocks away by airbending a strong gust of air which unfortunately blasted Toph off her feet as well.

Toph was not amused.

Due to his mistake of resorting to air bending, Toph had him working hard on trying to improve his sand bending instead. So there he was, trying to break the huge rocks into sand and then trying to bend the sand back into the rock. The sweat poured down his face as the sun started climbing up the sky but his efforts at sand bending was no where near to completion as it was a couple of hours back. He sighed, glaring at the rocks as if it was their fault.

It had been a couple of days since they left the last village when they had come across a crater filled with water at the top. Since it was covered on all sides by huge rock walls, Sokka had suggested they get down there for a quick break. That quick break ended up taking the whole morning as Toph took that chance to get Aang to practice his earth bending.

That was a bad idea… Aang thought miserably.

* * *

><p>Zuko honestly had no idea why he was even there. He had absolutely no desire to go back to Ember Island and he definitely didn't want to be anywhere near Azula. He sighed, looking over the ship they were currently in, his eyes aimlessly looking over the blue waters. He could hear bits and pieces of the conversation his sister was having with Ty Lee.<p>

"..gonna be great to hang out on the beach and do nothing!"

Zuko closed his eyes in frustration. He didn't want to do "nothing." In fact, every fiber of his being was shouting at him to do something, anything!

"Doing nothing is a waste of time." He spat out angrily, getting up and walking over to the balustrade. "I feel like a child."

"Lighten up. Dad wants to meet with his advisors alone without anyone else around. Don't take it personally."

Zuko gritted his teeth. Part of the reason why he was so frustrated was at being treated like this by his father. Wasn't he supposed to be a war hero? It was thanks to both Azula and him that the Earth Kingdom had finally fallen to the Fire Nation and yet here they were, being casted aside yet once again by their father. It made absolutely no sense to him as to why his father would not want him and Azula to be present at the meeting, _any_ meeting, which had to do with the Fire Nation's upcoming plans for the arrival of the Sozin's comet.

What frustrated him even more was Azula actually being content with it and not even uttering one word of protest with the plan. He sighed; he could never trust his sister to behave the way he expected her to. For all he knew, she might already be aware of what the meeting was all about. He looked at his sister from the corner of his eye; watching her smile and talk to Ty Lee… even after all these years, he still couldn't figure out what was going on behind that smile of hers.

"We used to come every summer when we were kids." He could hear Azula's voice as she told Ty Lee about their beach house on the island.

"That must've been fun!" Ty Lee exclaimed in delight.

A twinge of regret went through Zuko's heart as memories of his childhood spent at the island flashed through his mind.

"That was a long time ago…"

* * *

><p>"Toph" Aang whined, panting. "I cannot do this!"<p>

"Your heart is not into it." Toph scoffed at him, "I told you to concentrate."

"Give him a break Toph." Sokka spoke up, his head buried in the old scrolls that he had stolen from Wan Shi Tong's library not so long ago. "He has been waddling around the sand the whole morning…"

"Fine" Toph replied, jumping down from the rock she was lying on. "A quick 10 minute break and then we…."

Aang didn't even wait for Toph to finish her sentence. With a relieved yell of joy, he plunged into the water head first, disappearing from view within seconds.

"He was not listening to me, was he?" Toph asked Sokka in the silence.

"Nope"

She scowled, a little miffed.

"And what have you been doing all morning?" she asked, marching over to where Sokka lay under the shade of some huge rocks, scrolls and scrolls of parchments open before him.

"Just going through the invasion plans" he replied, his eyes not leaving the parchment he was reading.

"I thought the plan was already finalized and everyone had been contacted?" Toph asked, a little curious.

"Yes and no." Sokka sighed, putting the scroll down and rubbing his tired eyes. "I just want to know what exactly happened during the Fire Nation's blackest day."

Toph turned her sightless eyes towards him. "They lost their bending because of a solar eclipse, isn't that what we already know?"

"Yes," Sokka replied. "Their fire bending did not work during the solar eclipse but that is no reason to call it their "blackest" day. I have a feeling something more than their bending was at stake; maybe someone else took advantage of their lack of bending on that day. And if they did, I want to know how."

"And you can learn that from reading these old scrolls from that giant owl's library?"

"You know all the records related to the eclipse had been destroyed." Sokka sighed, a little dejected. "Unfortunately, I could only grab a handful of documents before the whole place sunk. I have gone through these scrolls hundreds of times, trying to find any clue, any hidden message or meaning but all I have learnt so far is about some mythical creatures that supposedly bended the energy within themselves."

"I guess we would have to go with the plan that you originally made then." Toph said.

"I guess so." Sokka replied, "I just hope it's enough…"

* * *

><p>"Here… this is for you."<p>

"Why would I want that?"

"I saw it and I thought it was pretty. Don't girls like stuff like this?"

"Maybe stupid girls"

Zuko flung the sea shell in anger. "Forget it!"

Mai looked away.

Zuko sat under the umbrella in silence, fuming. No matter what he does, it's never good enough for anyone.

* * *

><p>The Fire nation officer let out a yawn. "This has got to be the most boring job in the fire nation. Nothing ever happens."<p>

Before the second officer could say anything, there was a loud cry of joy from behind them, followed by an even louder splash.

The two officers scrambled under cover and peered out just in time to see Aang air bending himself up and springing up the rocks towards the waterfall he just fell out of. The two officers' eyes nearly bulged out in surprise as they saw the blue arrow tattoos covering the young boy's arms and leg.

"The Avatar's alive!" The first officer gasped in shock.

The two officers looked at each other, flabbergasted.

"But didn't Prince Zuko kill the Avatar in Ba Sing Se?"

They stared at each other in silence. "We better send a messenger hawk to the Fire Lord" the first officer suggested.

* * *

><p>"I thought since it's so hot… Here"<p>

Before Mai could reach out to take the ice cream cone that Zuko held out for her, the scoop of ice cream drooped and then fell right onto her lap.

"Thanks" Mai replied. "This is refreshing."

Zuko knew the fates were laughing behind his back.

* * *

><p>By the time Aang finally walked back to where he had left Toph and Sokka, the sun was quite low in the horizon. He knew Toph wouldn't be happy that he blew away their practice time but he had kind of lost track of time. He was expecting Toph to be furious but she just waved him away when he tried to stutter an apology.<p>

"No harm done. We can pick it up tomorrow."

Aang gaped at her.

"What?"

"I said it's ok Twinkle toes." She said off handedly.

"Plus we need to discuss some last minute details regarding the invasion." Sokka added.

He nodded, deciding to think about Toph's strange behavior later.

"First of all," Sokka began, "What do we do about Katara?"

"We rescue her of course." Aang replied, sitting down next to them under the giant rock. "Why are you even asking that?"

"I am trying to be realistic Aang" Sokka sighed. "We have been wandering around trying to find information about her but so far we have had no luck. Even if, by chance, we do manage to find out where she is, what do we do? Do you think we have enough time to bust her out and still get back in time for the invasion?"

"Yes." Aang replied forcefully. "And I can't believe you are thinking about abandoning Katara!"

"Aang! She is my sister!"

"Then start acting like her brother!" Aang yelled, jumping on his feet.

Sokka looked at him, shocked.

"Twinkle toes, think about what you are saying." Toph said calmly.

Aang looked down, feeling ashamed.

"I am sorry Sokka…" he replied, sitting down again. "I have just been too distraught recently."

Sokka nodded. "We all are, Aang. We all are."

"The fact of the matter is, Sugar queen is missing and we have absolutely no idea where she is." Toph continued. "We are 10 days away from the solar eclipse and we also have to reach Chameleon Bay before that."

"We have three more towns on the way where we can ask around for information." Aang suggested hopefully. "What if we find out where she is in the next three days? We can rescue her and come back in time to meet up with everyone else in time for the invasion."

Sokka looked at Aang, a strange expression on his face.

"Aang, I know it's hard for us but defeating the Fire Lord is our main priority."

Aang opened his mouth to say something but Sokka cut him off.

"We will be rescuing not only Katara but a whole lot of other prisoners of war if we end the Fire Lord's tyranny now. We are not going to get another chance like this plus we don't even know when the next solar eclipse is going to be!"

The three of them sat in silence, each lost in their thoughts.

"It's all my fault"

"No it's not. Stop blaming yourself for everything."

"But it's true," Aang continued miserably. "If I had been patient, if only I had listened to Guru Pathik, I might have been able to master the Avatar state."

"You know," Toph spoke up "I never really asked you… what did Guru Pathik require you to do in order to reach the Avatar state? Maybe we can try it out on our own and  
>see if it works…"<p>

"It won't work" Aang replied. "I tried but seems like my chakra got blocked when Azula shot me with her lightning. "

"What chakra?" Sokka asked confused.

"It's the thought chakra… in order to open it, I had to let go of Katara…"

"Whoa… hold on there for a second!" Toph exclaimed. "I have no idea what the chakra business is all about but what do you mean "let go of Katara?"

Aang sighed.

* * *

><p>"I heard you telling someone you'd be partying from dusk till dawn." Azula said. "It's dusk so we're here."<p>

Chan looked at her, not sure whether to be annoyed or amused.

"But that's just an expression" he replied.

"We are the perfect party guest" Azula insisted "We arrive right on time because we are very punctual."

Chan decided he didn't really care. He shrugged his shoulder and stood aside to let them enter.

"All right, listen." He spoke up after everyone crowded in on the entryway. "My dad's an admiral and he has no idea I'm having this party. So don't mess anything up."

Azula smiled. "That's a sharp outfit Chan… careful; you could puncture the hull of an Empire class Fire Nation Battleship, leaving thousands to drown at sea… because it's so sharp."

"Um… Thanks."

He decided it would be best to walk away.

"Hey, first ones here huh?" Ruon Jian called out when he saw Azula and her friends walking by.

"Pfft!" Zuko huffed. "He thinks he is so great." He turned towards Mai who was walking beside him. "Well.. what do you think of him?"

"I don't have any opinion about him." Mai shrugged. "I hardly know him."

"You like him, don't you?" Zuko snapped.

Mai sighed and walked away, leaving Zuko to glare angrily at Ruon Jian.

* * *

><p>Not very far away, a fight had broken out in the evening sky. A Fire Nation messenger hawk with a black ribbon message tied to its back was trying desperately to fight off the giant Eagle hawk. The cry of the birds echoed down the huge ravine below but there was not a soul to be seen anywhere; the only thing below was a glint of metal, reflecting off the setting sun rays.<p>

The man below looked up to see the Eagle hawk soaring towards him, carrying the scroll that moments ago were tied to the messenger bird. It landed with a thunk onto his metal arm. The man with the painted third eye took out the parchment and disappeared in the forest. The only thing that gave a hint as to what had happened there was the lingering smell of smoke and burnt parchment.

* * *

><p>Sokka knew something was going on between Aang and his sister but he was hoping he was only imagining things. But hearing it now, from Aang himself, it still struck him as a bit… weird. Granted he had known for a long time that Aang had a crush on his sister; even a blind sea monkey could see that; but he had no idea Katara felt the same way about Aang. He had suspected for a long time that something might have happened between them when they were separated from the rest of the group in the so called Cave of Two Lovers. What struck him as weird was the fact that Katara, who normally wore her heart on her sleeve, had been so nonchalant about it and that more than anything sent alarm bells ringing in his head. But he decided not to say anything, the young monk already looked so dishearten.<p>

"Ok" he began. "I am going to overlook the fact that you were making goo goo eyes at my sister behind my back…"

Toph snorted.

"But that still doesn't make sense." Sokka finished.

"Yeah" Toph smirked, "I didn't take you to be Sugar Queen's type."

"Whaa.." Aang exclaimed, his already red face going even a deeper shade of red. It was hard enough to admit these feelings to himself but saying it out loud to the two of them took more courage than he had bargained for.

"That's not what I meant" Sokka spoke up hurriedly, shooting a dirty glance at the girl sitting next to him. Then he remembered she couldn't see…

"Doesn't matter now, does it?" Aang said dejectedly.

"No.. it matters." Sokka replied. "When the Guru said you had to let go of earthly attachments, that didn't make sense."

"He asked me to choose between Katara and the cosmic energy" Aang said.

"I mean think about it" Sokka continued. "As far as I am aware of, all the previous Avatars must have had families right?"

Aang nodded slowly.

"That means they got married and settled down with their spouse and kids. If "letting go of attachments" was a requirement to mastering the Avatar state; I don't think any of the previous incarnations would have been able to do it either."

"Moreover, you were able to go into the Avatar state under the crystal catacombs of Ba Sing Se; even after interrupting your training with Guru Pathik." Toph pointed out.

"That was because I finally let go of Katara." Aang said in a small voice.

Toph and Sokka looked at him silently.

"No you haven't."

"I don't know.." Aang replied frustrated. "Why are we talking about this anyway?"

"Because" Sokka sighed "Having the Avatar state would have made taking down the Fire lord much less complicated."

Aang's stomach dropped. He had not really put much thought into taking down the Fire Lord.

* * *

><p>"Whoa!" Ruon Jian exclaimed. "What are you doing?"<p>

"Stop talking to my girlfriend!" Zuko snarled.

Ruon Jian walked over to him. "Relax, it's just a party."

Zuko had had enough. Without even thinking, Zuko pushed him away so hard, he went flying across the room, crashing into a vase at the other end.

Mai stood up angrily. "Zuko! What is wrong with you?"

"What's wrong with me?" Zuko replied back, incredulous.

"Your temper's out of control!" Mai spat back, "You blow up over every little thing! You are so impatient and hot-headed and angry!"

"Did you even bother to find out why?" he snapped at her. "When I try to talk to you about what's bothering me, you just blow me away. You are not interested in anything I have to say or anything I do for you."

Mai glared at him angrily. "You are not the same person I used to know."

"Well what do you expect?" Zuko shouted. "I was casted aside for three whole years! Did you think everything will be the way it was once I get back home? We are not kids anymore!"

"You are definitely behaving like one right now!" Mai snapped. "You seem like a child throwing a tantrum. Your anger is making you reckless!"

"Well at least I feel something as opposed to you." Zuko spat." You have no passion for anything! You're just a big "Blah"!"

Mai turned her back on him.

"It's over Zuko. We are done."

* * *

><p>Aang lay awake for a long time, his thoughts a jumbled mess. He knew he had to defeat the Fire Lord but rescuing Katara had pushed his confrontation with the Fire lord to the back of his mind. Now when Sokka mentioned it, it was as if Aang had submerged from under a long dream. He turned around on his side, forcefully closing his eyes and willing himself to sleep, trying to ease the knot that seemed to have gripped his gut from the inside, squeezing fear into his body.<p>

Sokka had assured him that they had the element of surprise which would work to their advantage. Plus the eclipse was going to make all fire bending futile anyway. So even though Aang still had to master fire bending, it won't be needed during the eclipse.

Yes, Aang thought to himself. Sokka was correct; defeating the Fire lord would free not only Katara but countless other innocent people from the terrible prisons they were kept in. But it was not enough, Aang sighed in frustration. Katara needed him and he had no idea where she was. He could feel angry tears sting his eyes but he blinked them back forcefully; he was not going to give in to despair, not now when he had a chance to redeem himself.

"Wait for me Katara" he whispered into the night.

The low howl of the wind through the crater rocks was the only thing that answered him back.

* * *

><p>It was a warm night and though the wind carried over the sounds of the waves crashing over on the rocks, the sounds and music of the party had long left Zuko as he continued walking aimlessly out in the beach. He sighed, stopping and looking up the full moon now shining with all her glory in the night sky. What was he supposed to do?<p>

"_Well what do you expect? I was casted aside for three whole years! Did you think everything will be the way it was once I get back home? We are not kids anymore!"_

Zuko marveled at the irony. He was the one who expected things to be the same as it used to be; once he had captured the Avatar, everything would have fallen back in place. How naïve he had been! Three years was a long time, people and circumstances change in much lesser time than that.

In the distance, Zuko could see their old summer palace; its silhouette standing out even through the shadows of the towering mountain behind it. His heart clenched as long forgotten memories of the past seemed to assault him all at once. It now seemed like another lifetime, a lifetime where his family actually cared for him. Now, all that was left of that family was a power hungry father bent on destroying the world and a shrewd and cunning sister who was a master in deception and manipulation. And uncle… his hearth wrenched at that thought. Uncle still cared for him, didn't he? A low chuckle escaped his lips; not after the way he stuck a knife on his back. He seemed to have a knack of hurting the people who actually cared for him or trusted him. His uncle and even Katara… she trusted him even though he was the enemy for so long. And how did he repay her? He nearly killed the one person who meant the world to her and then played a huge role in capturing and throwing her in jail. Not once but twice.

The second time was to save her life, Zuko thought angrily.

* * *

><p><em>Aang was running through the dark tunnel, panting hard. He had no idea what was chasing him but he knew he had to run, there was no other way. His footsteps were echoing down the tunnel, resounding off the walls and as he turned, the tunnel in front melted away to reveal a pool of lava.<em>

_"Whoa!" Aang stopped just in time, the flames shooting out of the lava pool nearly singing his robe._

"_Aang!"_

"_Katara? Is that you?" _

_Through the brilliant orange, he could see Katara standing on a rock in the middle of the lava, her hands tied to a pole behind her back. _

"_Katara! Hold on, I am coming!"_

_He threw his staff into the air and taking a flying leap, he caught hold of the stick, airbending himself forwards. Suddenly, the staff started to fall and Aang let out a terrified yell as his body plunged down towards the lava. _

"_You are too weak." Jeong jeong's voice echoed up the cave. "You are not ready!"_

_Aang's voice left him as terror gripped his heart, the lava coming nearer and nearer…_

"Guys!" Toph's voice woke him up with a start. "You're all gonna think I am crazy but it feels like a metal man is coming."

Sokka woke up groggily, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. "Whaasat?" he slurred.

Aang was on his feet immediately, his heart still pounding from the dream. Suddenly, the moonlight reflecting off something fell right into his eyes, making him squint but before anyone could do anything, the cliff to their side suddenly exploded, flinging everyone up in the air. Aang rushed forward through the debris, coughing from the dust that was falling everywhere and using his staff, he airbended the smoke and dust away to reveal a giant man standing in the cliff in front of them. Sokka's mouth fell open in surprise as they could finally see what was causing the moonlight to be reflected; it was the metal arm of the man. The man readied himself and Sokka just had a brief moment before the man shot another beam which seemed to have originated from the tattooed third eye on his forehead.

Toph quickly jumped ahead, instantly bending a huge wall of rock in front of them but the rock wall almost dissipated in the heat, the power of the blast knocking her off her feet.

"We have to get out of here!" Sokka shouted, dodging the rocks that were still falling from the previous blast. "How do you fight a man who can blow things up with his mind?"

"I will try to distract him!" Aang yelled back, "Get on Appa and move!"

Sokka quickly scrambled up Appa, helping Toph get up the saddle as Aang waterbended a huge tornado of water from the crater pool and directed it towards the metal  
>man.<p>

"Appa! Yip! Yip!" Sokka shouted as another blast from the metal man vaporized the water.

* * *

><p>"I thought I would find you here."<p>

Azula's voice broke through his thoughts as Zuko looked up to see his sister standing in front of him. He was sitting on the steps of the old palace, his hands clutching a clay tablet that had a small print of a baby's hand on it.

Zuko looked down, his hands caressing the old relic, lingering memories of the day his mother had made him put his tiny hand on that clay tablet fading from his mind.

Azula climbed the steps leading up to the patio and came and sat down next to her brother.

"Those summers we spent here seem so long ago," Zuko finally spoke in the silence. "So much has changed."

Azula didn't reply.

"Do you think things can ever go back to the way it was?" Zuko asked.

"There is no point in holding on to the past." Azula sighed.

Zuko continued to stare at the clay tablet, his fingers absent mindedly playing with it. It has been ages, ages since their mother left.

"I forgot we used to have those things." Azula said, looking at the tiny hand print. She took it from Zuko and placed her hand on top of the print.

"Yeah.." Zuko smiled, "I remember you broke the one with Lu Ten's print on it."

Azula chuckled softly, turning the clay tablet over. For the first time in days, Zuko could feel a strange comfort in her company.

"Where are the others?" Zuko asked.

"Still at the party I presume," Azula scowled. "I heard you and Mai shouting from across the room. By the time I could follow you out, Ty Lee was with Mai, trying to talk to her."

Zuko didn't say anything.

"Things are not going so well with her eh?"

"I guess…" Zuko rubbed his eyes, suddenly feeling tired.

"You do seem to be more angry than usual, " Azula said. "Not that I care… am just saying."

"I just don't know what to do…" Zuko spoke up, his words tumbling out before he could stop himself. "For so long I thought that if my dad accepted me, I would be happy. Now I am back home, my dad talks to me… he even thinks I am a hero!"

Azula smirked.

"Everything should be perfect right?" he asked, looking over at his sister.

"You should be happy then…" Azula remarked.

Zuko got up angrily and started pacing up and down the patio. Azula watched him quietly as he continued to walk around, muttering under his breath in frustration.

"No! No, I am not happy!" He snapped "I am angrier than ever and I don't know why!"

He stopped in front of Azula.

"And why am I even telling you all this?" he asked, incredulous.

Azula shrugged her shoulder. "You tell me."

Zuko stared at her for a few seconds, confused and angry.

"Come down to the beach with me," Azula sighed, getting up. "Come on, this place is depressing."

* * *

><p>"Sokka! Where is Aang?" Toph shouted, her voice almost drowning out as another explosion ripped through the air, blasting rocks hundreds of feet into the air.<p>

"He took off to the right." Sokka shouted back. "Hang on, we are going there as well."

Toph gripped onto Appa's saddle with all her might as the giant bison took a sharp turn to the right, flying towards the source of the commotion.

"Can you see him?" Toph yelled.

Appa swooped lower to the ground and through the smoke and dust, Sokka could see Aang falling through the air.

"Got it!" Sokka exclaimed. " Yip!Yip!"

With a mighty roar, Appa kicked higher up in the air, racing towards Aang who seemed to be free falling through the air. "Look out for the metal man!" Sokka shouted to Toph.

"Did the metal man blast rocks on your head?" Toph roared. "I am blind!"

"Oh right.." Sokka muttered, "Never mind."

Appa swooped down under Aang just in time. Aang hit the saddle with a thud, rolling over as the mighty beast gave another roar and flew higher into the air.

"Aang..!" Sokka scrambled over to where the monk lay on his back, a dazed look on his face. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah…" Aang replied, getting up slowly, rubbing the back of his head.

"Well… that was random" Toph spoke up.

"I don't think so…" Aang replied. "I have a feeling he knows who we are."

"Of course he knows who we are!" Sokka said, frustrated. "Come on guys… we have a 10 ton flying bison with us! Last time I checked, we are the only ones in possession of a giant fluff monster. Even if the metal man was blind enough not to notice Appa, he definitely knew who Aang was."

"So you mean someone is following us, trying to get us killed?" Toph asked slowly.

"Yup."

Toph's face broke into a huge smile.

"Sweet!"

* * *

><p>Katara had no idea where she was or where they were taking her. She tried to shake her hands but the metal cuffs cut deep into her wrist, making any movement painful.<p>

She sighed. It was going to be another long night.

* * *

><p>Book 3: Fire<p>

Chapter 6

The Avatar and the Fire Lord.

* * *

><p>*I would really like to know what you guys think of the story so far. I know it's not much different from canon but I am trying to incorporate bits and pieces here and there to come up with a different ending. I would really appreciate it if you can let me know what you like about the story so far, what you don't like and how am I doing in general. ALL reviews and comments are highly appreciated* :)<p> 


	7. Chapter 7

The air ship screeched to a halt, jerking Katara awake; the sudden jolt yanking her body back by her hands which were handcuffed to the steel wall. She let out a gasp of pain as fresh blood trickled down her wrist, the smell of iron and blood filling up the tiny cube.

She had no idea what time it was, it seemed as if she had been in the air ship for days. She blinked her eyes, trying to keep the sweat out of her lashes and waited. She could hear hurried footsteps outside the locked door and as she tried to peer through the window high above the ground to see if she can catch a glimpse any daylight, the door to her cube swung open.

A burly fire nation guard entered the room, followed by two more. Katara watched silently as two of them unlocked the handcuffs and the third one had a spear pointed to her face.

"No funny business." The guard with the spear growled.

The two guards caught hold of her arms and hauled her to her feet. This was the moment Katara was waiting for.

The guard with the spear had no idea what hit him: One moment he was looking at the prisoner's face and the next moment he was down on the floor unconscious, Katara's foot having connected solidly to the side of his head with a sickening crunch.

The two guards were too stunned to react and Katara took advantage of their shock, wrenching her arms free and making a run for the open door. A blast of fire to her right singed her arm, making her cry out in pain and she ducked just in time to avoid another fire blast which might have taken her head off. She stumbled out, grabbing hold of the metal door and trying to shut it but the two guards had thrown their weight against the door, flinging it open.

Katara was thrown off her feet with the force of the door banging open against the steel wall. She scrambled on to her feet, trying to get away but one of the guards had lunged forward and caught hold of her arms. She struggled violently, hitting the guard on his knee cap with her feet. The guard sank on the floor, pulling Katara down with him. However, before she could react, the second guard swung his foot out and hit her hard on her head. The metallic taste of blood filled her mouth before everything went black.

* * *

><p>"There it is… Roku's home" Aang spoke up as he gently guided Appa down.<p>

Sokka looked down but all he could see were barren rocks and no sign of life anywhere.

"But there's nothing here" Sokka replied, a little confused.

Toph jumped down from Appa's saddle as soon as they landed.

"Yes, there is. An entire village; hundreds of houses, all completely buried in ash." Toph said solemnly.

"What happened here?" Sokka ased, awed.

"All I know is Roku asked me to come to this island in my dreams last night." Aang replied, walking a little further away from where they had landed. "I will try to meditate and go to the spirit world. You guys can try to find the nearest village."

"We are not leaving you." Sokka replied firmly. "Moreover, it's evening already. There is no point going anywhere, we will set up camp here."

* * *

><p>Zuko looked up the huge portrait of Fire Lord Sozin, a hundred questions running through his mind. The letter that someone left him last night mentioned that he needed to know the history of his great grand father in order to understand his own destiny. He peered into the majestic eyes of the previous fire lord, a little unnerved at how life like the portrait felt.<p>

The sound of footsteps made him turn back to see Azula walking through the corridor. She gave him a passing glance and continued walking past.

"It's never too early for a sitting with the court painter, Zuko." She called back. "Make sure he gets your good side."

Zuko flinced, his eyes narrowing in anger as he turned back to look up the portrait again.

Azula smirked.

* * *

><p>Katara's head felt as if it had been split open in two; she groaned, trying to open her eyes but her eyelids felt like stone. Groggy, disoriented and enveloped in darkness, she finally managed to get her eyes open but the room she was in was so dark, for a moment she thought she still had her eyes closed.<p>

A stab of pain went through her head, making her eyes water. She tried to move her arms but the heavy cuffs on her wrists had her arms chained to the wall. A faint wave of nausea and dizziness hit her and she would have toppled over on the floor if the chains had not held her in place. She blinked her eyes, taking deep breaths and tried to focus so that the room would stop spinning. Her right arm felt heavier than her left and she could feel something wrapped around it, causing a dull but consistent sting on her arm.

What happened? All she could remember was being on the air ship and this was definitely not the ship… It smelled and felt different.

Another sharp pain knifed through her head, almost making her throw up. She gasped for air, sweat dripping down her face…

"Where am I?" She thought miserably.

* * *

><p>Aang could not believe what he was seeing. "You were friends with Fire Lord Sozin?" He blurted out in shock. Roku chuckled gently before nodding his head.<p>

"Back then, he was just Prince Sozin and he was my best friend."

Aang was watching but he just could not comprehend what he was seeing. Roku, his past life, was best friends with the Fire Lord, the same Fire Lord who had wiped out the entire Air nomads, the same Fire Lord who was responsible for Aang being the last of his kind!

He didn't know what to feel as he watched Sozin sprinkle grass on Roku's defeated face.

"Love is hard when you are young." Roku's voice floated over him as he watched the girl walking past Roku and Sozin.

"You don't have to tell me…" Aang sighed, his mind going back to Katara. His stomach clenched in guilt as a quick flash of Katara in chains went through his mind.

"Don't worry…" Roku said gently. "It gets better."

"How?" Aang asked before he could stop himself.

Roku looked at him. "You will find out on your own. Now come with me, we have a party to attend."

Aang wanted to ask so many questions but he bit his tongue. Now is not the time, he reminded himself. Roku had more important stuff to show him, his questions will have to wait.

* * *

><p>Zuko's eyes couldn't believe what he was reading. The Fire Lord was best friends with the Avatar? He knew the Avatar before Aang was from the Fire Nation but he had no idea his great grandfather was actually best friends with Avatar Roku.<p>

He looked up from the scroll, trying to get a grasp of the story unfolding before his eyes. Suddenly he could hear a small sound outside the door to the chamber he was in and he froze, his heart thumping wildly in his chest. He knew as the crown prince he had every right to be there but he didn't want word to get to his father that he was caught reading the last will of Fire Lord Sozin in the secret dragon bone catacombs. He knew it was no big deal but at the back of his mind, he somehow felt he had to keep this a secret, no matter what. He kept still for a long time, waiting to see if anyone tried to get into the vault. When minutes ticked by and nothing happened, he finally relaxed and went back to reading the scroll.

* * *

><p>"You think he is all right?" Toph spoke up, pointing towards the still figure of Aang.<p>

Sokka looked up from the fire he was trying to build; the young monk was clearly in the spirit world. His arrows were glowing and he had been sitting still for more than half of the evening now. Even the sounds of the ocean waves crashing on to the rocks below did not seem to trouble his meditation.

"Yeah," Sokka replied, poking the fire with more wood, "He should be fine."

Toph did not say anything. Ever since the first time she had felt Aang go into the Avatar state in the desert they were stranded in, she has had a small fear of anything that had to do with the Avatar state or the spirit world. She had heard tales from Sokka about how Hei Bai had captured him once and taken him to the spirit world; granted Sokka might have been exaggerating when he had gone into details about what sort of creatures he came upon when he was stuck there for a day; Toph still couldn't help but feel a bit uncomfortable about this world, a world where bending didn't work.

She wrapped her arms tightly around herself and tried not to think.

* * *

><p>Now that Katara was finally awake, her eyes had time to get adjusted to the darkness of the room she was tied in. She had found out the hard way about the iron ball chained to her ankle when she had tried to move her leg and had ended up instead with a very sharp pain when her skin got scrapped against the metal. Hissing in pain, she had tried to move her arms but they held firmly against the wall. She tried to shake the iron cuffs, checking if they were loose enough for her to attempt to break them off but they held on tight.<p>

She shifted uncomfortably, wincing in pain as she tried to get the feeling back in her numb arms and legs.

Suddenly, the door to her chamber was slammed open. Katara shut her eyes, the sudden brightness almost blinding her. She tried to squint her eyes open but the glaring light made it almost impossible for her and all she could figure out were footsteps; at least three pairs, heading towards her. She could hear flames bursting onto torches, finally lighting up the dark room.

"Make her sit in the chair." A gruff voice barked and she was suddenly lifted up from the floor and stuffed into a wooden chair, her hands still tied to the chains on either side of the wall. She bit her tongue to stop screaming out in pain.

"So, you are the feisty one?" The gruff voice continued.

Katara finally looked up, her eyes having adjusted to the light in the room. The man in front of her was dressed in fire nation uniform and he had at least three guards standing behind him.

"Where am I?" Katara slurred, her tongue feeling heavy in her swollen mouth.

"The Boiling Rock." The guard said, his face breaking out into a wide smile.

* * *

><p>"It was bitter work" Roku said "But the results were worth it."<p>

Aang watched in awe as Roku stood on the beach, bending all the four elements in four different directions. He couldn't help but feel overwhelmed as the fully realized Avatar Roku displayed his complete mastery of all the elements. It took Roku twelve years to learn everything; how was he supposed to do it before the comet arrives?

That's why we are attacking during the eclipse, a small voice said in his head.

"Roku…" Aang spoke up. "That's amazing."

"Not really Aang," Roku smiled. "I didn't know that time but the real bitter work was just about to begin."

* * *

><p>Zuko was transfixed by what he was reading. He didn't even think it was possible for the Avatar to actually challenge the Fire Lord, the ruler of his own nation. But there he was, a fully realized Avatar Roku addressing his Fire Lord like a common citizen. He knew it would end badly for Sozin even before he started reading the part where Sozin described how Roku defeated him so easily.<p>

Zuko sighed, rubbing his tired eyes. The main reason Sozin wanted to expand his kingdom was to share the peace and prosperity of the Fire Nation with the rest of the world. That didn't sound too bad, did it? At first thought no but he had to agree with Avatar Roku. The four nations were meant to be separate and his time being a refugee at the Earth Kingdom taught him enough to know how different people from each nation essentially were. Trying to get them all under the same ruler, the same culture seemed like a fool's errand.

Zuko shook his head and continued to read the rest of the scroll.

* * *

><p>Sokka looked at Aang, who sat completely still in meditation. How long was this going to take?<p>

The evening had long gone and the night had finally wrapped everything up in her darkness, just the faint twinkling stars in the sky bravely putting up a fight to spread their light.

It was decided that Sokka would take the first watch and Toph was going to take over after three hours. He could already hear her snoring inside her earth tent. Sokka tried to relax but his mind was racing; he had to do something. But what? He had read and re-read the scrolls from the library so many times, he could almost recite them word from word.

He sighed, getting up on his feet and walking over to where Appa lay asleep. He climbed up his saddle and searched around till he could find what he was looking for: the sword from Master Piandao. He took the sword out of its sheath, the black metal gleaming in the light casted from the fire. Even after all these days, he still couldn't help but marvel at how natural it felt for him to hold that sword in his hand.

Jumping down from Appa, he made his way over to the fire. It was time for him to get some work done.

* * *

><p>Katara lay on the bunk, looking up blankly at the dark ceiling. So this is the high security prison that the guards at the capital city were talking about. She had to admit, it was pretty impressive. But not impressive enough to hold back a water bender, she thought fiercely. They were surrounded by water everywhere, she could feel it all around her; it was only a matter of time.<p>

All she had to do was think of a proper plan this time and think things through. She closed her eyes, a sigh of frustration escaping her lips; the pain was really getting to her and she had no way of healing herself. The prison guards had patched her up with bandages and ointments but all her plea to let her heal herself had fallen in deaf ears. She sighed, turning on her side, the metal chain clanging at the sudden shift of weight. Her hands were still cuffed but at least she was allowed a bunk to lie on…

"You are the first water bender that has been sent to the Boiling Rock in decades." The guard had sneered at her. "We have special orders for you. You are to be handcuffed and your legs chained at all times. Plus dry air is being piped into this chamber so don't even think about trying to bend."

Dry air? Katara had no idea what he was talking about but she was determined. She was going to get out of here… one way or the other.

* * *

><p>Aang watched in horror as an old and frail Roku put up a desperate fight against the huge exploding volcano. Even though he was watching in spirit form, he couldn't help but shudder in pure terror; memories of a similar event that happened to him flashing into his mind. That volcano was nothing compared to this and he had had a very tough time trying to save the village. He could understand perfectly what Roku was going through at that moment and he couldn't help but marvel at how he was handling the situation.<p>

"This is amazing Roku," he whispered in wonder. "You are battling a volcano and you are winning."

Roku nodded sadly.

"Unfortunately my success didn't last, Aang. There was no way I could do it all."

Aang looked down to where Roku was now airbending a powerful blast of air from his mouth, cooling the lava into solid rock. Poisonous volcanic gases were bursting out everywhere and Roku was having a hard time trying to get away from it.

"Battling the elements was hard enough", Roku continued. "I had to do it while I could barely breathe. The poisonous volcanic gasses were overwhelming."

Aang watched, his stomach squirming in fear as the Avtara before him was visibly slowing down, the effects of the gasses finally taking its toll. Just when it seemed that nothing could get worse, a second volcano erupted next to the first one. Aang stomach dropped; there was no way Roku could stop both volcanoes.

"Need a hand, old friend?"

Aang looked in surprise; even with all the smoke and dust, he could still recognize the figure soaring above on a blue dragon: Fire Lord Sozin!

* * *

><p>Zuko rubbed his tired eyes, his mind racing. Even after everything, his great grandfather still rushed to the aid of his old best friend. He couldn't help but be awed by what he was reading; he knew most of it anyway but to read something like this in such explicit detail was something else. He picked up the scroll and went back to reading.<p>

* * *

><p>Sokka went through the motions again and again, sweat glistering on his brow, the sword held steady in his right hand. Step forward, swing the sword, step back, block the opponent's swing, sidestep and bring the hilt of the sword down…<p>

This time he was going to make a difference, this time he was not going to abandon anybody, this time he was going to redeem himself. With renewed vigor, he went back to his stances.

So engrossed was he in training that he didn't notice a pair of blank eyes looking towards him in the darkness…

* * *

><p>"Make sense of our past Aang and you will bring peace and restore balance to the world."<p>

Aang looked back from the infant in the arms of the air bender to his past life who was slowly fading away in the darkness.

"Roku!" Aang called out, suddenly terrified. "Roku!"

He had so many questions to ask, Roku can't leave him now. Even as he watched, Roku disappeared from view.

* * *

><p>Zuko was fuming with rage. He gripped the bars of the prison cell his uncle was locked in, his knuckles going white.<p>

"The note said I needed to know about my great grandfather's death!" He shouted. "But he was still alive in the end!"

Iroh finally looked up, his sad eyes searching the face of the angry teen for any sign of recognition.

"No, he wasn't" Iroh sighed.

A chill went down Zuko's spine. "What are you talking about?" Zuko asked, his heart beating painfully in his chest.

"You have more than one great grandfather Prince Zuko," Iroh said, his voice sounding raspy from lack of use. "Sozin was your father's grand father. Your mother's grandfather was Avatar Roku."

It was as if someone had suddenly forced Zuko underwater; his chest squeezed so tight that it was difficult to breath. He opened his mouth to say something but shock and disbelief had rendered him speechless.

"Why are you telling me all this?" he finally managed to ask.

"Because understanding the struggle between your two great grandfathers can help you understand the battle within yourself." Iroh explained. "Evil and good are always at war inside you Zuko. It's your nature. Your legacy. But there is a bright side. What happened generations ago can now be resolved… by you. Because of your legacy, you alone can cleanse the sins of our family and the fire nation. Born in you, along with all this strife is the power to restore balance in the world."

Zuko could hear Iroh speaking but it was as if his voice was coming from somewhere far away. He closed his eyes, his head on his hands.

"What about Azula?" he asked, his voice so low it was a wonder Iroh could catch it.

"Azula has already embraced the blue dragon", Iroh sighed, closing his eyes in sadness. "She has already chosen to be Ozai's daughter but you, you Prince Zuko… you are still Ursa's son."

* * *

><p>Sokka looked at Aang in wonder, the morning sun breaking through the darkness behind them.<p>

"It's like these people are born bad." Toph finally spoke up.

Sokka nodded his head vigorously. " Even after Roku showed him mercy, he left him to die like that."

"I don't think that's the point" Aang replied, rubbing his eyes. "Roku and Sozin were both fire nation; I think it just means that people are capable of both good and evil and even the Fire Lord and the Fire nation should be given a chance to redeem themselves."

"And it's about friendships." Sokka added.

Aang looked at him, the image of Gyatso and Roku laughing together still fresh in his mind.

"Do you really think friendships can last more than one lifetime?" Toph asked.

"I don't see why not" Aang smiled, taking Toph's hand.

"Well scientifically speaking, there is no way to prove that…" Sokka began.

"Just hold hands!" Toph growled.

* * *

><p>The shrill bell ringing outside the prison corridor woke Katara up from her restless stupor. She sat up in her bunk, her hands and legs screaming in pain but she ignored it. She had a lot of time to think and she was finally ready. She had a plan.<p>

* * *

><p>Book 3: Fire<p>

Chapter 7: The runaway.


	8. Chapter 8

Aang sighed. No matter where they asked, people seemed to shrink away from them as soon as they mentioned the war or anything related to prison or prisoners. How in the name of Roku would they ever be able to get any information about Katara? They had flown from Roku's island into the closest village that they could find in order to continue their search and pick up some supplies. The days were ticking down to the eclipse and still there was no sign or clue about Katara's whereabouts. They had roamed around the village for hours now, trying to talk to people about the war but so far, it had been the same result as before.

"Let's keep going" he growled, his voice clearly laced with frustration.

Toph and Sokka didn't say anything but continued walking behind the restless monk as he led the way into the busy market streets.

* * *

><p>Zuko didn't know what to think anymore. Everything he thought he knew, everything he thought he wanted, his whole life… it was all crumbling down in front of his very eyes. Returning to the Fire nation had been his goal for the past three years and now that he was here, he didn't even know if he belonged there anymore.<p>

Zuko closed his eyes; Mai had been acting a lot more caring ever since their argument on Ember Island and he appreciated her efforts. But somehow it was not the same… he knew that he could talk to her but she would not understand. No one would understand what he had been going through, no one could even imagine the turmoil inside him.

Oh but someone did, a tiny voice spoke inside as long forgotten memories of Katara offering her help in Ba Sing Se flashed into his mind.

Zuko's eyes snapped open, horrified. He stood up abruptly, running a shaky hand through his hair.

"Zuko"

Zuko looked up to see Mai standing by the door to his room. She walked inside, her eyes narrowing in a slight frown. "Are you ok?"

Zuko opened his mouth to say something but nothing came out. He looked at her hopelessly, his shoulders slouched.

Mai looked at him, her face emotionless. She knew Zuko was trying his best but she had a very strong feeling inside that their relationship had taken a major turning point since their short stay at Ember Island. Was it for the best or worst? Mai sighed, only time will tell.

* * *

><p>Katara tried to conceal her panic as she calmly looked around her. She was in the prison courtyard, standing in a line with what she assumed were other prisoners. One of them looked suspiciously familiar and Katara had a strong haunch that he might be one of the pirates that had attacked them a long time back. She sighed, her arms and legs were still handcuffed and she noticed she was the only one who still had a leg iron stuck to her feet.<p>

"So…" the man in front of them spoke, bringing Katara's attention back to him. The man wore the typical Fire Nation uniform but unlike the other guards, this one exuded a certain aura of authority around him. He must be the prison warden, Katara thought miserably.

"You must have heard a lot of rumours about the Boiling Rock", he continued. "Let me assure you that whatever you heard were all lies. The truth is much more horrific than any rumours could even convey."

He walked along the line, staring at each of their faces as he continued speaking.

"As long as everyone co-operates, we will get along well. Disobey one rule, misbehave even once and you will find out that this place does not tolerate people who lack discipline."

He stopped in front of Katara, looking down at her face. She looked back defiantly, her eyes not showing the fear that was slowly consuming her from inside.

"And remember… escape from this place is impossible." He grinned, the smile not reaching his dark eyes. "Even for a waterbender."

"I guess we will find out." Katara replied back flatly.

The warden's eyes hardened, his face frowning into a sneer. "I have heard about you, peasant from the Southern Water Tribe" he spoke, his voice so low it raised the hair on the back of Katara's neck. "You are lucky to be alive after that stunt you pulled at the Fire Nation capital city. Just remember, there is no Prince to save you this time."

Katara didn't trust herself to speak.

* * *

><p>"You are a long way off from the war to be concerned about prisoners, aren't you?" the old lady peered into Aang's face, her white hair falling over her shoulders.<p>

"Look," Toph sighed. "We are just kids. Even if we do find out where the prisoners are kept, there is nothing we can do about it. I am sure the prison might be in one of the biggest baddest most dangerous place in the Fire Nation to begin with."

"You are right about the most dangerous place in the Fire Nation," she sighed, rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand. "It is a terrible place and once people go in, they do not come out."

"What do you mean?" Aang asked, his heart hammering hard in his chest. Were they finally going to get some solid information?

"The people who are sent to the prison are the hardened criminals, the ones serving sentences for heinous crimes like murders…" she continued, her voice dropping down to a whisper. "I have heard rumours that some of the war prisoners might also be sent there."

"Where is this place?" Aang asked, breathless.

She looked at the young monk's eager face.

"I don't know." She replied sadly.

Aang groaned. They were so close.

"Wait a minute," Sokka spoke up. "You said some of the prisoners might be sent there. Is there any other place that the others are kept in?"

"Oh yes", she spoke up brightly. "It is common knowledge that there are a few prisons in the Fire Nation capital city itself. In fact…" she lowered her voice, "I heard the Dragon of the West is being kept in one of them right now."

"Are you sure?" Sokka asked, skeptical.

"Are you doubting me young man?" she frowned, her voice rising in anger.

"Not at all, not at all."

"Thanks for your help."

"Hmmph"

* * *

><p>Mai watched silently as Zuko punched flame after flame of bright orange flames in quick succession, the sweat dripping down his bare back. It had been more than an hour since Zuko started training and the sun was already setting down in the distant horizon but even from there she could feel the heat and intensity in his movements. This was unlike the Zuko she is used to, this Zuko somehow seemed calm and yet angry at the same time.<p>

Footsteps alerted her to the approaching presence of someone and she turned to find Ty Lee walking towards her.

"Mai!" she exclaimed, skipping the last few steps and coming to a stop in front of her.

Mai looked at the bright face of her friend and nodded her head in greeting, turning to look back at Zuko who was now kicking out flames along with his punches.

Ty Lee leaned down next to her, her eyes following Mai's gaze to fix on the young prince.

"So…" Ty Lee cleared her throat, "How are things with Zuko?"

"Fine." Mai replied.

"So you guys are back together?" Ty Lee continued.

"Yes."

Ty Lee looked at her friend, the same impassive face not betraying any hint of any emotion. She sighed, gently putting her hand on Mai's shoulder.

Mai did not even flinch, her eyes still following Zuko's every move.

"You know Mai…" Ty Lee said, "You can always talk to me."

Mai did not reply.

* * *

><p>Katara stared at the locked door of her cell, her plans crumbling to bits in front of her. The guards had refused to release her handcuffs and the dry air inside was really starting to irritate her. She couldn't bend, she couldn't move her limbs without pain and she definitely couldn't see a way out of this. She sighed sadly, staring at the leg iron stuck to her right ankle.<p>

The guards back in the capital city had not been able to figure out how she had managed to break the prison bars but Katara doubted a few fruits would be able to help her this time. Even if she managed to get out of the cell, she had to cover a long way before she could reach the water. There would be more than one guard this time; somehow if she were to take them all down, then what? Where would she go?

A scratching noise outside her door snapped Katara out of her thoughts. She looked up wearily, her eyes fixed on the small flap on the door.

"Katara?"

Katara stared at the door, her heart suddenly beating faster. That voice…

"Katara, you in there?"

"Suki…?" Katara whispered in disbelief.

The flap of the door slid aside to reveal a pair of very familiar grey eyes.

"Suki!" Katara exclaimed, standing up with joy. The next instant, she crumpled down to the floor as her ankle screamed in pain, the iron having struck painfully against her bone.

"Sshhh…" Suki whispered through the flap. "They will hear you."

Katara blinked back tears, hissing in pain.

"I couldn't believe the rumors so I came to check myself." Suki continued. "It's really you."

"I had no idea you were kept imprisoned here", Katara whispered back, clenching her teeth to keep herself from screaming in pain. "What happened?"

"Azula." Suki replied back grimly, her eyes darkening for a second.

Suddenly, even through the haze of blinding pain, she could hear it: Footsteps.

Suki's eyes widened in alarm.

"I will be back."

And as quickly as she came, she was gone. Katara could hear the guard's footsteps approach her door and then continue down the hall without any incident.

Katara stared at the now shut door flap, her mind whirling. Was it a hallucination?

* * *

><p>Sokka was excited; even though the old lady seemed a bit lose on the head, the information she gave seemed genuine.<p>

"What information?" Aang asked sarcastically. "That they keep prisoners in a "terrible place"? I could have told you that."

"Not that," Sokka replied, "it's what she said about the prisons in the capital city. We now know that there is a very good possibility that Katara might actually be held captive in the capital itself."

Toph nodded.

"We need a prison break."

Sokka stared at the blind earth bender, his jaw hanging open. "No, we don't!"

"How do you propose to rescue her then?" Toph asked, picking her nose.

"Provided she really is there…" Aang muttered.

"Let's assume that she is going to be there." Sokka insisted. "We need a plan."

"What plan? Twinkle toes goes one on one with the Fire Lord while we get Katara out of her prison. Who needs a plan for that?"

Sokka sighed. It was going to be a long day…

* * *

><p>Zuko's eyes widened in surprise and he instinctively dropped his hands to his sides, breaking his firebending stance.<p>

"Mai!" he exclaimed.

"Need a sparing partner?" she asked.

Zuko wiped the sweat off his forehead, wiping his hands on his pants. He was breathing hard and he had no idea how long he had been out there. He squinted his eyes towards the horizon and was almost surprised to find the sun about to set.

"You know I can't do that", Zuko replied. "I might burn you by accident."

Mai didn't reply, her eyes glinting in the light of the setting sun.

Zuko shook his head, walking towards her. Mai stood her place, not even flinching when he put his right hand on her shoulder and squeezed it gently.

"Thanks…" he whispered.

Mai stood there, her eyes fixed towards the horizon as Zuko's footsteps slowly faded away. Why was she doing this again? She asked herself, turning back to look at Zuko's retreating figure. She could feel Zuko slowly getting out of her reach and though she expected this to happen sooner or later, she couldn't deny the tiny stab of pain that shot through her heart.

* * *

><p>Katara finally arrived at the conclusion that she was definitely hallucinating; there was no way Suki would be in the Boiling Rock. They would have heard about it, if anything had happened to Kyoshi Island or to the Kyoshi warriors, she reasoned. Yes, that was the only explanation; the guard must have really kicked her head hard.<p>

Even though the realization dawned on her, she couldn't help but feel defeated. For a glorious moment she actually thought she had found an ally but then came the sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach as that hope faded away.

She was never one to give in to despair but for the first time in a very long time she could feel the icy cold feeling slowly overcoming her. What was she going to do all on her own, out there in the middle of nowhere? Where was Aang, Toph and her brother? Were they doing ok on their own? She looked up at the ceiling dejected; very soon Aang would be facing the Fire Lord and she wouldn't be there to help him.

She suddenly stood up, her heart thumping wildly in her chest. Fresh blood gushed out of her wrist as the iron shackle rubbed through her wounded skin again but she hardly noticed the pain. The Eclipse! Why didn't she think about it before?

The solar eclipse would render all the fire benders defenseless!

And she would be there, surrounded by her element on all sides…

She looked down at her bounded wrists and legs; now that was going to be a problem.

* * *

><p>It was one of those rare mornings when Sokka actually woke up earlier than anyone else. He blinked his eyes open just in time to see the sun rise over the horizon, the warm glow of the sun slowly spreading through the morning. He stifled a yawn, getting out of his sleeping bag. Aang was still asleep curled up on Appa and he could see Toph's earth tent in the distance. It was a weird night; they had stayed awake till the wee hours trying to figure out what to do in order to rescue Katara. Provided she was actually held captive in one of the Fire Nation capital city prison. It took Toph and Sokka a long time to persuade Aang to concentrate on Ozai and leave the rescue effort to them; the monk was angry and frustrated at the suggestions but he knew it was what it was. They knew they were taking a big risk by going on something just based on chance but like Aang had pointed out so many times last night, they had no choice.<p>

So it was decided and Sokka had to stay awake almost the whole night altering the invasion plan in such a way that they could break away from the main force once they reach the capital in order to go and search for Katara who might or might not be locked up in one of the prisons.

Sokka sighed, rubbing the weariness out of his eyes. It took him a while but he managed to figure out a way to make it work. Or at least he hoped it would work.

"Did you get any sleep?"

Sokka turned to see Toph standing behind him, yawning.

"Not really," Sokka admitted.

"It's going to be fine," Toph replied, "let's get going… we need to get some supplies and be on our way."

"That's another problem," Sokka sighed. "We are running really low on money."

Toph didn't say anything as she turned back heading towards their camp. "We will figure something out," she called back.

Sokka shook his head as Toph yelled "Rise and shine Twinkle toes!" before bending a column of earth below the sleeping figure of Aang effectively throwing him 12 feet in the air.

* * *

><p>Zuko didn't know what to do; Mai's offer last evening had thrown him of guard and he didn't really know how to react. Now that he had time to think over it, he felt terrible for turning her down. It was not every day that Mai actually tried to take an interest in what he was doing.<p>

"Zuko?"

Zuko turned back to find Ty Lee standing behind him.

"Can I have a word?"

Zuko stared at her, unsure what to say. Ever since the time he mocked her that night on the beach in Ember Island, they had hardly talked to one another.

Without waiting for a reply, she came up to him.

"It's about Mai."

Zuko's throat went dry.

"She is hurting you know," she continued, her eyes searching for any sign of reaction from his scarred face. "Whatever you are doing, either end it or go through it, that's all I have to say."

Zuko stared at her dumbfounded as she turned around and walked away without a word.

The scary thing was Ty Lee spoke the very words he was afraid to confront: either end it or go through with it. He cared for Mai, a lot more than anyone else but the past few weeks with her had lacked something… something he just couldn't put his finger on. She was still the same, he was still the same then what really changed? His feelings for her had been as strong as before but somehow he just didn't know if this was how it was meant to be. It's as if they are slowly moving apart or at least he felt as if he could not connect with her emotions any more.

He sighed… he should have listened to his younger self. Girls are crazy, every single one of them starting with his sister, then Ty Lee, Mai.. even Katara. Zuko stopped in his tracks, remembering the murderous look in her blue eyes just before the Dai Li had taken her down in Ba Sing Se. Yup, Zuko decided, definitely crazy.

* * *

><p>The warm sunshine in the prison courtyard did little to brighten up Katara's mood. She was still bound and shackled but at least they let her sit outside with the other prisoners. She eyed them, wondering how many of them are innocent and how many of them were rightly put in there.<p>

"Hey look! It's the water bender!"

Katara stiffened, as a jeering toothless prisoner pointed her out to his companions; three guys in the same prison outfit, a skinny one who almost looked skeletal, a big burly one with a potbelly and an old guy, almost bent over with age.

The toothless guy smiled at her widely. "If you are a water bender, how come you are not able to escape in a prison surrounded by water?"

"Unlock my handcuffs and I will show you," Katara hissed.

"Ooo.. a feisty one.." the old guy commented. "I have heard that the benders from the south are pretty hot headed. Remember the tale about that last water bender they captured?"

"Oh yaa.." The skinny guy nodded his head, "I heard she was the only one who could escape from the prison."

Katara didn't say anything, if a fight were to break out; she knew she was hopelessly out numbered. Not to mention she could not use either her hands or legs.

"Oh there you are!"

Katara turned towards the voice and her jaw fell open. Suki!

"The warden wants you inside his office.." Suki said, nodding towards the four prisoners surrounding Katara.

"Why would the warden ask you to rely a message?" the toothless guy spat. "Why not use one of the guards?"

"Hey, if you want to question the warden's judgment, be my guest." Suki shrugged.

The toothless guy muttered to himself but none of them said anything. Suki smiled at them widely and grabbing hold of Katara's arm, slowly steered her away from them.

As soon as they were a safe distance away, Katara turned to Suki in disbelief.

"I seriously thought I was hallucinating when you came to my prison cell yesterday."

Suki grinned at her, clasping her hand tightly.

"I had to make sure it was you. When I first heard that they had captured the Avatar's water bending teacher, I thought it was a baseless rumour." Suki replied.

"I am sorry Suki," Katara said, "We had no idea Kyoshi Island was attacked."

"It was not." SUki replied grimly. "We ran into Azula while trying to protect Appa."

"Appa?" Katara asked, surprised. "That was such a long time back.. you guys found Appa?"

Suki nodded. "I am glad he could make it back to Aang."

"Where are the other Kyoshi warriors?" Katara asked, looking around her as if expecting the green dressed face painted warriors to jump out of the crowd at any second.

"I don't know," Suki replied. "They separated me from everyone and brought me here. I have been here for a while now. In the beginning I was hoping for Sokka to come and rescue me…." Her voice trailed off.

"Suki.." Katara spoke up, uncomfortable. "Sokka had no idea.. we had no idea you were here. In fact, we didn't even know that a place like this existed."

"I don't blame you guys," Suki replied hastily, "I was just being foolish. But I have been waiting for an opportunity to escape and you are right here now"

"You have an escape plan?" Katara asked, sudden excitement making her heart beat faster.

"Sort of" Suki replied, "And now that you are here, I think it might just work."

* * *

><p>Toph's way to "Figure something out" about their money problems turned out to be pretty straight forward: scamming. Taking advantage of her blindness, Toph had proposed to use her earth bending to lure the gamblers into a false sense of security and strike when they least expected. So far her plan had been working fabulously. They scammed through their way to quite a handful of money bags and pretty soon Sokka had his Wang Fire disguise out to help in as well. After a pretty successful morning, they were back at camp, packing up for the next village.<p>

"What are we going to do with all this money?" Aang asked, handing Sokka what happened to be the 21st bag of money.

"I have been thinking of building Appa some armour" Sokka replied, his Wang Fire beard still stuck to his chin. "It will be handy when we invade the fire nation."

"Appa would like that, won't you buddy?" Aang asked. The giant air bison roared his approval.

"Guys!" Toph suddenly shouted. "Metal man is here!"

Aang just had enough time to turn back to look at Toph when suddenly a giant fire blast roared towards them. Instinctively Aang raised a wall of earth to block the path of the fire, pushing Sokka behind at the same time.

"It's Sparky Sparky Boom Man!" Sokka yelled, scrambling to take cover behind some rocks.

"Sparky Sparky what?" Toph shouted as she started throwing rock projectiles towards the place where the huge metal man was standing. Every single one of Toph's rocks were blown away to smithereens as another blast blew the ground beneath their feet away. Toph flew back, the impact of the blast throwing her body into the air. Aang caught her just in time, airbending them to safety.

"We need to go!" Aang shouted, "Now!"

"Way ahead of you buddy," Sokka yelled, scrambling up Appa's sadle as another blast of fire ripped apart the giant rock that they were taking cover against just a few moments ago. Aang jumped onto Appa, Toph tightly clinging on to his arms as Sokka grabbed the bison's reins and steered them up in the air.

Aang bended a huge gust of air towards the metal man, throwing him off his feet as Appa finally got up in the air. "What is that guy?" Aang asked, looking back to see the metal man slowly getting up on his feet.

"Sparky Sparky Boom Man" Sokka replied back.

"It's like he can spontaneously combust anything with just his thoughts!" Aang exclaimed, setting Toph down on her feet.

"Or... We can also call him Combustion Man" Sokka mused.

"Whatever he is, how do you fight against someone like that?" Toph asked.

No one said anything.

* * *

><p>Zuko stood outside the door for a long time. He had to do it and he had to do it now. With a sigh, he pushed the door open.<p>

"Mai, we need to talk."

Book 3: Fire

Chapter 8: The Runaway


	9. Chapter 9

Thanks a lot for the comments and reviews guys :) It feels good to know that people are actually reading my story :)

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><p>The old lady stood still for a long time, looking up at the dark sky. The clouds tonight had covered the full moon and even though the moon light filtered in through the clouds, it was still pitch dark in the forest. She took a step forward; the dried leaves cracking underneath her feet being the only sound in the darkness of the night.<p>

Tonight had been different, she usually got done pretty soon but today the two young kids had struggled a lot and she had to concentrate much harder to bend them to her will. She flexed her fingers, even with the moon hiding behind the clouds; she could feel the power flowing in her veins.

She paused suddenly, her ears having picked up a very subtle sound. Voices. She looked behind her, maybe the two kids managed to get free after all. Straining her eyes in the darkness, she couldn't see any movement around her. Maybe it was her imagination…

No, there it was. This time she could hear it much clearer. It was definitely voices and by the sound of it, more than two people. In all the years that she had been through that forest, the countless times she had passed through the same road, never once had she come across any other human being other than herself. Curiosity drove her to walk the next couple of yards till she could see the clear orange glow of a small fire and actually hear the words being spoken this time.

"No, I am serious, I hear something."

"You are probably just jumpy from the ghost stories."

She peeked through the leaves and could see three young kids gathered around the fire place. Two boys and a girl…

"All right, now I am getting scared", the shorter boy in the head band spoke up and she could see him subtly moving a little closer to where the taller kid stood.

Oh well, she might just as well…

"Hello children.." she stepped forward.

The reaction she got was not what she had expected. The taller kid jumped a foot in the air, his high pitch voice of terror mixing with the strangled yell of fright from the kid in the head band. They both scrambled towards the small girl in between, hugging her in fear and shock.

"Sorry to frighten you..." the old lady chuckled, stepping into the fire light. "My name is Hama. You children shouldn't be out in the forest by yourselves at night. I have an inn nearby, why don't you come back there for some spiced tea and warm beds?"

"Yes, please." The tall kid replied almost immediately.

"Wait…" The shorter kid with the head band spoke up. "Sokka can I talk to you for a minute?"

Before the kid named Sokka could reply, the younger kid caught his arm and dragged him a little further from where the old lady stood.

Even from that distance, she could still hear what the three kids were whispering.

"Ok, first of all, Toph, why in the name of Roku did you not alert us to her presence?"

"Oh man! The way you two jumped out of your skins! It was priceless! I was expecting you to be shocked but not so scared that you would run towards me like frightened rabbits."

"That was not funny!"

"It was to me."

She could see the shorter kid's ears go red as the girl named Toph started laughing but he tried to maintain his dignity by valiantly trying to steer the conversation away from her to the taller kid named Sokka.

"And Sokka, what was that? A strange old lady shows up in the middle of nowhere and you agree to go with her just like that?"

"Hey, I don't know about you but I am really getting sick of sleeping on the ground. My back feels rough and calloused; a night of sleeping like civilized people should actually do us some good."

The kid in the head band opened his mouth to say something but Sokka continued:

"Besides, she is just an old lady. What harm can she possibly do?"

The old lady smiled to herself. Of course, she was old and frail, what harm could she possibly do?

* * *

><p>It was way past mid night but Mai just couldn't sleep. She had expected the worst when Zuko had come knocking at her door but this was one time she wished she had been wrong.<p>

"_I know I have not been fair with you Mai…"_

"_Come to the point Zuko."_

"_Mai I am sorry... "_

Mai sighed, she was never one to have a way with words. She had kept quiet and after a while Zuko seemed to have lost his voice as well. They stood staring at each other for a long time, so long that Mai lost count of the seconds, the minutes or even the hours as time slowly ticked by.

"_Why are you doing this Zuko?"_

"_We need to face the truth... I need to face the truth."_

"_Is there anyone else?"_

"_What..?! No… no, there is no one else."_

Mai still remembered the way his eyes went wide at that question, the answer he gave her seemed more like a statement he made to convince himself, not her.

"_I will always care about you Mai."_

It had been hours since Zuko left her room and judging by the silence around her, she could tell she was all alone.

"I will always care about you too Zuko," she whispered into the night.

The hooting of the night owl was the only reply she got back.

* * *

><p>It had been a strange night, Katara admitted, much stranger than usual. She was happy to find a familiar face in the crowd of jeering strangers and at the same time she was sad to know Suki had been all alone in this hell hole for so long. If only they had known about it earlier…<p>

One good thing, if she could call it "good", was the fact that Suki now basically knew everything there was to know about the Boiling Rock. She had been meticulous in her observations and had even gone to great lengths to try to keep track of which guards were on duty and when.

Some of the other prisoners used to pick on her when she was first brought to the prison but they quickly found out why Suki was the leaders of the Kyoshi warriors. Suffice it to say that the scuffle that followed ended up with two prisoners being sent to the medical ward and one being locked in the cooler. The warden even seriously considered putting Suki into the cooler but with her being a non bender, the other guards were able to convince the warden not to.

"We don't want a prisoner of war to die under your watch, Sir."

Katara was fascinated by the concept of the coolers; it seems they were metallic boxes, not much bigger than the size where two person can fit in and it was kept icy cold inside. The main purpose was to "cool" down the fire benders who "misbehaved" or tried to disrupt the peace of the daily routine.

"_Don't worry, we are not going to be sent in there. I am a non bender and they are scared I might die and they are definitely not going to put in a water bender inside a cooler."_

She had to agree, it would be foolish to put a water bender inside a cooler; even with her hands and legs tied, Katara was sure she could bend if her element was touching her very skin. Katara mused at the irony: even with water in all living beings, she could not do anything about the water inside her body.

That's when the thought struck. There was water in her body…!

Suddenly it made sense to her as to why dry air was pumped into her cube.

* * *

><p>Even though Aang was sure he wouldn't be able to sleep in a strange little inn, he was the last one to wake up the next morning. He had to admit, Sokka was right. Sleeping in a proper bed did wonders for your aching back.<p>

Hama's inn turned out to be a tiny little place, situated at the top of a hill. In the moonlit night, it had seemed strange and ominous but now that the sun was up, all apprehension that Aang had felt for the place had melted away.

"I am glad you ran into us Hama", Sokka said, his mouth full of the noodles that Hama had served for breakfast.

Hama chuckled, tottering over to get more food from the kitchen counter.

"I admit, I have never come across anyone camping out in the forest before," Hama replied, walking back with a kettle of hot tea. "You know, you should be careful. People have been disappearing in those woods you were camping in."

Sokka nearly choked on the food he was eating. Toph thumped him hard on his back, sending his face straight into the bowl on the table in front of him.

"What do you mean, disappearing?" he coughed.

Toph raised her hand to thump him on his back again but Sokka managed to evade the blow just in time.

"When the moon turns full, people walk in and they don't come out." Hama replied, putting a tray of fruits next on the table in front of Aang.

"Anyway," Hama continued, "Why don't you guys help me with getting groceries for tonight's dinner?"

Aang turned to look at Sokka who was staring at Hama with his jaw hanging open.

* * *

><p>Zuko was feeling terrible. He couldn't get a wink of sleep last night and the times he did manage to doze off, his dreams were haunted by Mai's hurt look on her face. After tossing and turning for hours, he had finally managed to fall asleep only to wake up with the sun almost high in the middle of the afternoon.<p>

He got out of the bed, groaning as he remembered the meeting that Azula had arranged for the day. He had no idea what could be so important that his dad was the only other person she had invited. Granted, anything that had to do with Azula was bad news but considering his current situation, it could not be any worse.

By the time he reached the throne room, both his father and sister were already there.

Ozai nodded and pointed to the empty seat by his side and as soon as Zuko took his seat, Ozai spoke up.

"You may begin" Ozai nodded to Azula.

"Thank you father," Azula replied. "As you already know, we had entered Ba Sing Se under the guise of the Kyoshi warriors. When we were there, we came upon a plan that the Avatar and his supporters had drawn up to defeat the fire nation."

This was news to Zuko. He suddenly sat up straight, his headache long forgotten.

"Defeat the Fire Nation?" Ozai mused. "I hardly doubt that is possible…"

"They are planning to take advantage of the coming solar eclipse to invade the fire nation." Azula continued.

"Hmmm…" Ozai replied slowly. "The day of the black sun…"

"What?" Zuko spoke up before he could stop himself.

"Not important," Ozai said, dismissing Zuko's abrupt question.

Zuko bit his tongue, stopping himself from saying anything more.

"So they know about the effects of the solar eclipse on Fire benders and they also found out when the next solar eclipse is going to be," Azula continued. "However, they are not aware that I know about this so called invasion plan of theirs. I think it would be a great way to lure them into a trap and strike back at the very heart of the resistance."

"With the Avatar gone, don't you think they might not go ahead with their invasion plan?" Ozai asked.

Zuko stole a look at Azula, searching her face for any hint of uncertainty about the demise of the Avatar: he found nothing.

"It's a golden chance handed to us in a silver platter", Azula insisted. "There is no harm in assuming that they are going ahead with their plan."

Ozai stood up. "I agree," he nodded. "Azula, you are in charge of coming up with a strategy and implementing our plans for a counter attack. Dismissed."

The day of the black sun… Zuko tried to think back to the old history lessons that they used to have in the palace but he could have sworn he had not heard anything about this. He turned to look at Azula but she was already out of the room, walking behind their father. So she knew about this so called invasion plan for so long and had never even gave him any hints about it; he sighed. Even if he knew, what was he going to do about it anyway?

* * *

><p>Nervous excitement had made it almost impossible for Katara to sleep last night; she was amazed at herself for not even realizing that just like the fruits, the human body also contained water and in much larger volume. Was it even possible to use that for water bending?<p>

She had sat in her bunk for a long time, trying to figure out a way to use the knowledge to her advantage. Fruits, plants and human beings... all living things had water in it. She could extract the water out of the plants and fruits but just the thought of trying to draw the water out of a human body had made her feel sick to the stomach. She shook her head, she wondered if that was even possible. That was when she realized she could actually try to use her own sweat to water bend. In theory it should work but she needed to try it out first. Her efforts at making herself sweat were severely hampered by the fact that she couldn't really move much and after trying for hours, she finally decided to wait till the morning when the prisoners are taken to the courtyard to try and see if she could water bend her sweat.

The afternoon sun was shining nice and bright and just like the previous day, she was dragged to the courtyard and allowed to sit there watching the other prisoners. It was a shame she couldn't walk or move much but she figured if she sat in the sun for a while, she was bound to start sweating sooner or later. Sure enough, she could soon feel the sweat trickling down her forehead and she raised her cuffed hands to wipe it off her face. Her heart pounding loudly, she looked at the glistering sweat on the back of her was no way this could not work. Carefully she placed one left hand covering the back of her right hand and slowly raised her left hand, using her fingers to bend the tiny amount of sweat on the back of her right hand. Her eyes opened wide as the minuscule amount of sweat hovered in between her hands.

The excitement however soon faded away as she realized how pointless it was; the amount of sweat was not enough to even form a good droplet of water. She sighed, frustrated. It was not fair that fire benders could use their bending by using the energy inside their body and converting it to flames. It would have been so much easier if water benders could have done something similar. For a spilt second, the memory of that night in the capital city when she was captured and almost choked to death by the Dai Li flashed in her mind. Everything had gone hazy and dark, she was struggling to breathe, screaming inside her mind and just when everything was about to go black, there was that glorious flash of bright orange tearing through the darkness.

She stood up abruptly, breathing hard.

* * *

><p>"Is this… is this steamed sea prunes?!" Sokka exclaimed, his mouth hanging open in shock.<p>

Aang quickly put the cover down on the bowl and very subtly, pushed it away.

Hama chuckled, her eyes shining at Sokka's excitement.

"Yes. Yes, they are steamed sea prunes or as close to it as possible."

"But how.. no way.." Sokka replied slowly.. "Are you from the water tribe?"

Hama nodded gently, "The Southern water tribe to be precise. And I know you are water tribe, Sokka… that used to be a very common name for boys when I used to be there."

"Wow…" Sokka replied.

Hama flicked her right hand and immediately, the soup from the big bowl in front of her sprang up in the air and splitting in three, flew and dropped neatly into the three empty bowl of soup that were put next to their plates.

"You are a water bender!" Aang exclaimed.

"I thought Katara was the last water bender of the South Pole", Toph spoke up.

"Katara?"

"My sister" Sokka sighed as Aang hung his head.

"I am sorry," Hama spoke up. "Losing a family member is really hard."

"We didn't lose her, she was captured", Toph replied grimly "Taken prisoner by the fire benders."

"I was captured from my home too", Hama spoke into the silence as Aang and Sokka's eyes opened wide in surprise.

* * *

><p>"Azula!"<p>

Azula turned to see Ty Lee waving to her from the corner of the hall. She sighed; she really didn't have time for this. She had to set up a meeting with the palace guards and the fire navy to come up with a good plan to trap the peasants who were arrogant enough to think they could launch a surprise attack on the fire nation and live to tell the tale. She thought of ignoring her but by the time she had made up her mind, Ty Lee had walked the last few yards separating them and was standing in front of Azula.

She might as well get this over with.

"What is it Ty Lee?"

Ty Lee looked a bit hesitant, her large grey eyes a little worried.

"It's about Mai," she finally said. "I am getting worried about her."

"It's just a lover's spat Ty Lee," Azula replied dismissively, "I admit Mai does seem gloomier than usual but she and my brother had already made up by the end of their fight at Ember Island. There is nothing to worry about."

Ty Lee wanted to say something but she held her tongue and merely nodded as Azula turned and walked away.

* * *

><p>"Are you sure this is going to work?" Katara whispered. Suki had managed to slip past the guards and was talking to Katara through the glass on the door flap in her prison cell.<p>

"I had been planning it out for the past few months," Suki whispered back. "Trust me, it is going to work."

Katara hesitated; in theory the plan that Suki had proposed should work but after her recent escape attempt at the capital city, Katara was not so sure.

"And this Chit Sang guy.." Katara continued, "Can we trust him?"

"Well.." Suki paused; she had to agree, Chit Sang was not the most reliable but he was definitely the better of the two devils. "He is not one to squeal if that's what you mean."

"All right…" Katara sighed. "Let me think this over. Meet me tomorrow afternoon in the courtyard and we will talk it out."

Suki nodded and before Katara could say anything, she had already disappeared down the corridor. With a frustrated sigh, she sat back on her prison bunk, the iron chains on her hands and feet clanging in the silence of the night. She was feeling quite uneasy and apprehensive about Suki's plan and no matter how many times she tried to convince herself that it will work, she just couldn't shake off the feeling of something going wrong; what if they get caught again this time.

"_Remember, there is no Prince to save you this time."_

Katara felt like screaming.

* * *

><p>Toph was feeling sick to her stomach and by the resounding silence around her, she was sure Sokka and Aang were feeling the same.<p>

"Those.. Those monsters!" Aang finally blurted out, his hands shaking in anger.

Hama quietly wiped a tear away from her cheek; it had been terrible, those years in the fire nation prison and no matter how much time has passed by since, the mental and emotional scars still remained.

Toph remained silent; she knew prison was horrible but hearing about it from someone who had experienced it firsthand still sent chills down her spine. Ever since Katara had been captured, she had tried not to think about what conditions she might have been facing in the prison but with such a detailed account from Hama, it was hard to ignore it anymore.

Suddenly, Sokka stood up. Even though Toph was blind, she didn't need any eyes to feel the horror that was consuming Sokka from the inside.

"Excuse me", he whispered to the table and before anyone could react, he was out the door, the wind slamming the door shut behind him.

"I am sorry" Hama spoke slowly, "Maybe I shouldn't have said anything."

"No..." Toph finally found her voice. "It's a good thing that we now know the facts. Though it had been a long time since you were imprisoned, I highly doubt their methods have changed drastically."

Aang nodded solemnly, the anger in his gut slowly giving way to terror and despair. It was all his fault… if only he had been able to master the Avatar state, none of this would have happened.

"And it's not your fault either Twinkletoes", Toph stressed out loud before Aang could open his mouth. "Let's get Sokka back in here and make a plan instead of moping around."

Hama nodded. "Yes, if you want to rescue Katara, I might be able to help."

"How?" Aang asked, his ears finally perking up.

"Well for once, I can tell you the location of the prison I was kept in," Hama began.

* * *

><p>Iroh looked at his nephew; Zuko had dark circles under his eyes and he looked frail and thin. Even then, the fire in his eyes was something Iroh had never seen before.<p>

"How can you expect me to make the right choice if I don't even know what the truth is anymore?" Zuko asked, frustration dripping from his voice.

Iroh sighed, he didn't really expect Zuko to show up like this. Especially the way he left last time.

"What do you want me to tell you?" He finally asked.

"The truth."

"The truth…" Iroh mused. " The truth about the day of the black sun."

Zuko didn't say anything but the look in his face was enough to convince Iroh there was no way out of this.

"It was the day the Fire Nation lost Fire Lord Sozin."

Zuko looked at his uncle, confused. "Great grandfather died during the solar eclipse? What's so secretive about that?"

"No, he did not die." Iroh replied grimly. "He was murdered."

* * *

><p>Though the night breeze felt cool to his skin, the tears of anger and regret flowing down his cheeks felt like burning lava on his face. He had no idea where he was going; he just needed to get away from everything, to get away from himself. Ever since that night in Ba Sing Se, he had lost count of the number of times he had asked himself if he did the right thing in leaving Katara behind. The days that have passed since then, he had come to lull himself into a false sense of compromise, refusing to let his mind think about what the horrors of prison might actually be like. Tonight, that illusion had shattered; the facts had been laid open on the table and no matter what he said to himself, he just couldn't convince himself anymore that the decision to leave his sister behind in order to save the Avatar had been the correct one.<p>

So engrossed was he in his thoughts that he didn't even notice the old man walking in front of him; by the time his mind had registered the image, he had already bumped hard into the old man, sending them both tumbling down the grass.

"Hey!" The old man howled, "Watch where you are going!"

"I am sorry," Sokka spluttered, getting on to his feet and hurrying over to where the old man lay on the ground. "Are you hurt?"

The old man took Sokka's hand and pulled himself up, dusting away the dirt on his clothes.

"Doesn't matter young man", he replied. "More importantly, are you out of your mind walking alone in the full moon night?"

Great, Sokka thought, another superstitious guy.

"Trust me", the old man whispered. "When the moon is full in the sky, strange things happen. Spirits take over your body and you cannot control your limbs anymore."

In spite of himself, Sokka found himself whispering "How do you know?"

"It took over me once," the old man said, his voice solemn. "I tried to fight it but my feet were moving on their own and they were taking me towards the mountain. Then as suddenly as it began, it stopped."

The mountains? Didn't Toph say something about hearing voices under the ground last night? Sokka opened his mouth to say something but the old man had already turned his back on him and scurried away as fast as he could.

"Sokka!"

Sokka looked back to see Aang and Toph running towards him in the moonlight, the fallen leaves and twigs creaking under their feet sounding very loud in the stillness of the night.

"Are you ok?" Aang panted.

"Yes," Sokka exclaimed. "Forget about me, Toph, remember you said you were hearing voices in the mountains last night?"

"Yeah.. They came and they vanished just like that." Toph nodded.

"I think I know where all the missing people are!" Sokka said, already sprinting towards the mountain that the old man had pointed out to him. Without another word, both Aang and Toph took off after him, their running figures casting a dark silhouette in the moonlit night.

* * *

><p>Katara had almost dozed off when she suddenly jerked awake; her heart beat pounding in her eardrums. She was not sure what caused her to wake up but she lay still on her bed, her ears straining for any noise. It was a very faint sound but she could finally hear it again; it almost sounded as if someone was dragging a huge sack of rice across the floor. She stood on her feet and slowly walked over to the glass pane on the door flap and peered outside. The prison hall was dark except for a few torches hanging in between which was casting strange shadows on the iron walls. In the dim light, she could see two prison guards dragging someone across the hall, someone who was limp and even from that distance Katara could figure out that whoever it was had been knocked unconscious.<p>

As the guards passed by her prison cube, Katara flattened herself against the wall and cautiously peered out the flap; what she saw almost made her gasp in shock.

Suki!

She watched in horror as Suki's unconscious head lolled from side to side like a grotesque puppet. She knew Suki was taking a big risk by sneaking in to see her and though Katara had been worried, she never really thought the Kyoshi warrior would get caught.

Terrified, Katara clamped her hand over her mouth to keep from screaming in horror. She had to get Suki out of their clutches but how? If they put prisoners in coolers for starting a fight, she shuddered to think what they might do to Suki for being able to get out of her prison cell and sneak around the hallway. Whatever it was, it would be way worse that being stuck in a cooler.

If only she could get rid of her iron shackles! She desperately tried to shake them loose, cutting her wrists once again in the process. If she could only get some water, any water… she looked around furtively, trying to figure a way out of the prison as the blood dripped down her wrists, falling on to her feet, dying her feet red as it spread through her shoes.

She stared at it, a sudden gruesome idea forming in her mind. She kneeled down, swiping the droplet of blood off the floor. Blood is liquid…

She didn't have time to think… breathing hard, she flicked the fingers of her right hand over the blood dripping down her wounded wrist. The effect was immediate. The red liquid gushed out of her wound, hovering in midair and at the same time, it felt as if the blood in her veins were freezing over. The sharp pain that followed almost made her scream out loud but she bit her tongue, gasping hard. It felt as if she was draining the heat out of her body with each drop.

Painfully, she drew the blood out of her wound and bended it over the iron shackle. Taking a shuddering breath, she blew on it, freezing it solid over the metal. She gazed at the red ice in wonder for a second and as the thought hit her of what she had just done, she fell down on the floor, retching.

* * *

><p>Zuko was frozen in shock. He looked at his uncle mutely, his mind racing.<p>

"Murdered?"

Iroh nodded.

"But.. but the history books and all the palace records state that he died peacefully in his sleep!" Zuko insisted, his mind still refusing to believe what his ears heard.

Iroh sighed sadly.

"You cannot believe everything that you hear Nephew…" Iroh said, "History books can be altered and records re-written, especially when it comes to the affairs of the Royal family."

Zuko clutched his head with his hands, his fingers gripping his hair tightly.

"It happened after Sozin had used the power of the comet to wipe out the Air nomads" Iroh began. "After the initial assault on the air temples, unknown to the fire nation soldiers, a small group of air benders from the western air temple had managed to survive the attack. They had fled, battered, bruised and their psyches damaged beyond repair by the horror of what they had to withstand. No one knows how they managed to escape or even hide for so long from the fire benders but they waited and planned out a crazy suicide mission. They were the last of their kinds but the massacre had left them mentally unstable, especially due to the torture that the fire benders had inflicted on them."

Zuko was hearing the words but it seemed as if they were coming from someplace very very far, as if some ghost was whispering to him in his dreams, the words washing over him but leaving him untouched.

"The day of the solar eclipse was about a week after Sozin's comet had passed by," Iroh continued. "I have no idea how they managed to sneak into the capital city but that day, the group of the last surviving air benders, launched an all out attack on the royal palace. Some say they were a group of 3 while others state they were 4 but no matter how many they were, they took out all the palace guards. The fight with Sozin was long and hard even though he was severely incapacitated due to his lack of fire bending; he ultimately fell when the last air bender exploded his lungs out."

Zuko looked at Iroh in horror.

"Needless to say, it was a black day in the history of the fire nation." Iroh sighed. "They had just claimed to the whole world that the entire air nomad population had been eradicated and then just weeks after that claim, their Fire Lord gets killed by the same group of air nomads who were no longer supposed to exist. It was then decided to keep this a secret from not only the rest of the world but also from the rest of the royal family and the citizens of the Fire nation. Sozin was declared to have died peacefully in his sleep and the altered version of his death was recorded for the rest of history and passed on as the truth. Fire Lord Azulon went to great lengths to make sure no records of what really happened exist anywhere in the world."

"Then how do you know about all this?" Zuko asked, his voice cracking in disbelief.

"I was the heir to the throne" Iroh replied slowly. "This horrible truth is passed down from one Fire Lord to the next and my father told me all about it when I turned 16."

"Does my father know?"

"He is not supposed to but knowing Ozai, I won't be surprised if he does."

* * *

><p>Aang couldn't believe his ears. Hama? Hama was responsible for locking all these innocent people under the mountain?<p>

"We have to stop Hama!"

"I will get these people out of here," Toph exclaimed. "You guys go!"

Sokka and Aang took off at a full sprint, running towards the exit. Aang still couldn't get himself to believe that the kind old lady who just gave them food and shelter could turn out to be such a monster.

"All that torture in the prison might have made her mentally unstable", Sokka spoke up, running behind Aang as they dashed through the forest to the inn where they had left Hama behind just an hour ago.

"Ya", Aang agreed. "But that is no reason to hurt innocent people!"

They could almost see the inn in the distance when suddenly the silence of the night was shattered by a cry of fear and pain. Aang and Sokka stopped in their tracks.

"This way!" Sokka shouted as he took off to the right.

Running through the forest, they could still hear the person screaming and as they came nearer and nearer to the voice, they could finally see a dark silhouette of a figure in the moonlight.

"Is that.. is that the old man?" Sokka asked, as they came to a stop a few yards in front of the struggling figure.

"Mister," Aang shouted, "are you ok?"

They stood transfixed in horror at the sight in front of them; the old man was alone but he seemed to be struggling against some invisible force, his mouth open in a constant scream of terror.

"No, he is not ok." A voice spoke up, as Hama slowly walked out of the shadow of the tree.

"Hama!" Sokka shouted in anger. "We know what you have been doing!"

Aang took a fighting stance.

"They threw me in the prison to rot" Hama spat "Along with my brothers and sisters. They tried to wipe us out, our entire culture! They do not deserve any mercy!"

"Believe me, I know what it feels to actually have your entire culture destroyed," Aang spoke up, his voice almost getting drowned out by the screams of the old man. "But this is not the answer. Harming and hurting these people is not going to get your past back."

"No! I don't want the past back!" Hama roared. "I want these people to suffer!"

Sokka shook his head sadly, it was obvious Hama was way beyond reasoning.

"All right Hama, " Sokka said. "Let go of the old man and give up now. You are outnumbered."

"No," Hama's cold voice almost made the hair at the end of Sokka's neck to stand up. "You just outnumbered yourselves."

Before he could even react, suddenly his leg gave way and he fell on the ground. He looked at himself in shock as Hama's mad laughter rang throughout the forest. He tried to stand up but he couldn't move his body. His heart hammering loudly in his chest, he looked up to find Aang on the ground next to him, his arms and legs twisted in strange angles.

"What's happening?" Sokka choked in alarm as his left arm moved on its own and twisted itself behind his back.

"Blood bending…" Hama replied icily.

* * *

><p>Katara tried not to think what she just did as she silently ran down the hallway behind the guards. She had managed to break her shackles and escape the prison cell. Her wrists and legs still hurt but she couldn't afford to think about pain, she had to get Suki out one way or the other.<p>

She skidded to a halt around the corner just in time to see the guards carry Suki over towards a huge steel door. Katara didn't want to know what was behind that but whatever it was; she had to stop the guards from taking Suki there. She looked around desperately, there was no water anywhere. For a moment she considered bending the boiling water outside but that would mean wrecking the whole prison apart which she first of all doubted she could even do. There was no other option.

Her heart hammering loudly, she took a water bending stance. She had no idea if this would work but using her blood as water gave her the idea of trying to use the opponents' own blood against them. She ignored the voice screaming in her mind about how wrong it was to go inside a person and try to control their will; she had no choice. Either she does it or she loses Suki forever.

Saying a silent prayer for forgiveness, Katara spread her arms wide and forcefully snapped them together, trying hard to concentrate on the two guards. For a second she thought it didn't work as the guards stopped in front of the door. Katara tried even harder, pushing her arms down, sweat dripping down her face and with all her might, she concentrated on pulling the blood in the limbs of the guards. She was rewarded when the two guards let out a scream of surprise as their hands suddenly twisted behind their back and Suki's limp body fell hard on the concrete floor.

Repulsed with herself, Katara tried to swallow the bile coming up her throat and used all her will instead to bend the guards down to the floor. With a deep breath, she finally flicked her arms and the two guards fells on the floor, unconscious.

Katara stood in panic, her heart beating so fast she felt as if it would burst out of her chest. Did it work? Was she able to knock them unconscious? She watched terrified, looking for any signs of movement from the guards but they lay still on the floor.

She cautiously walked forward, running on tip toes to where Suki lay sprawled on the floor. Please let her be alive, she prayed desperately as she fell on her knees next to Suki's limp form. She let out a huge sigh of relief, Suki was definitely breathing.

"Suki!" Katara whispered, shaking her shoulders. "Suki, wake up."

When Suki didn't respond, Katara slapped her gently on her face.

"Suki!"

"Mmmm.."

Katara's heart was beating in her ear drums as Suki groaned and slowly opened her eyes.

"Katara.." she slurred. "Is that you?"

Katara was so relived; she just hugged her, tears seeping down her eyes.

* * *

><p>"How did you manage to break my hold on you?" Hama asked, furious as she lay struggling against the ropes that Sokka had tied to keep her arms and legs bound.<p>

"I am the Avatar." Aang replied simply.

Hama's eyes went wide but she didn't say anything.

"Good job there buddy," Sokka patted Aang on his shoulder. "For a moment, I thought I was a goner but then you went all airbending ka-pow on her."

"Guys!"

Aang and Sokka turned to find Toph running towards them, followed by the group of villagers she had just rescued.

"We got her, Toph." Sokka grinned.

* * *

><p>Zuko's head was still reeling as he made his way inside his room. Frustrated, he tossed his hooded cloak on to the chair and sat down on the bed.<p>

"Been out long brother?"

Zuko sprang up from the bed, his heart hammering in his chest as his body immediately went into a fire bending stance.

Azula smirked, walking over to where he stood.

"Azula!" Zuko almost shouted. "What are you doing in my room?!"

"Nothing…" Azula drawled. "I just came to let you know that Uncle Fatso will be transferred over to the Boiling Rock next week."

Zuko stared at her as she smiled at him and walked out the room.

* * *

><p>Katara had finally managed to sneak back to her cell. She didn't tell Suki how she managed to knock the guards down and she didn't ask. The shattered shackles would be a problem to explain to the guards next day but that was something she would have to think about later.<p>

She tethered over to the edge of the bunk and kneeled over, violently sick.

* * *

><p>Book 3: Fire<p>

Chapter 9: Nightmares and Daydreams

16


	10. Chapter 10

First of all, I apologize for the delay and I would also like to thank everyone who has been following my story and leaving their comments and reviews. I might not be able to reply back to everyone personally but your reviews and comments are what motivates me to write even more :) It feels weird otherwise if no one responds.. it's like I am writing the story for myself..

I promise I will update the next chapter much sooner. Things are starting to get serious now and since my story is following canon, there is only a few things here and there that I can change. This chapter happened to be one of those... few changes but I hope you guys like it :)

And yes, please review and comment. They are always appreciated :)

* * *

><p>The prison warden stood still, his eyes grim as he stared at the flustered healers trying to revive the unconscious water bender.<p>

"She's still breathing…" one of the guards standing next to the warden informed him.

"I don't care!" the warden snapped. "I want to know exactly what happened here."

The warden was not happy; he had been dragged out of his quarters at the wee hours of the morning by the patrol guards. Apparently, on one of their routine checks, they had found the locks on the prison door of the water bender broken. Alarmed, they had stormed inside only to find the prisoner lying face down on the floor, covered in blood and her own vomit.

"We are not sure what happened," the guard spoke cautiously. "We found her unresponsive on the floor and her body burning with fever."

"Who broke the locks?" the warden growled.

"We don't know Sir."

"How did she break her shackles?"

"We are not sure Sir."

The warden caught the guard by the collar of his uniform and slammed him hard against the steel wall.

"Find out." He whispered.

"Yes Sir."

* * *

><p>Zuko had not been able to sleep the whole night; the information about Sozin's murder had rattled him more than he would like to admit. Was there any truth in anything that he knew?<p>

And were they really planning on sending Uncle Iroh to the Boiling Rock?

He stood up and walked over to the balcony of his room. The sun was just beginning to rise over the horizon and the cool morning breeze carried over the scent of the flowers from the garden below. Zuko rubbed his tired eyes, flopping down on the chair; what was he supposed to do?

* * *

><p>"This is it, the official rendezvous point for the invasion force." Sokka confirmed, nodding his head as he double checked the map in his hands.<p>

"And we are here two days ahead of schedule." Toph added.

Aang's stomach almost dropped down to his toes.

"Two.. two days?" he choked.

Sokka had already laid his mat on the grass. "Whatever…" he replied "that's like two days from now. Let's just calm down and…"

"But.. two days!" Aang crocked.

"It's gonna be ok twinkle toes." Toph said, lying down on the ground. "Let's get some rest."

Aang looked at his two friends; how could they be so calm when they were about to face the biggest threat to the world in two days' time? What if it didn't work?

He opened his mouth to say something but Sokka's snore cut him off.

* * *

><p>Suki shuffled her feet nervously, staring down at the tray in her hands. There was no sign of Katara today at the prison courtyard. Normally the guards let her sit out in the sun during the afternoon but she couldn't find her; did something happen to her? Suki wondered miserably.<p>

She had lost her appetite after last night's close call and her stomach squirmed uncomfortably as she looked at the food she had piled on her plate.

Determined not to throw up, she walked over to one of the empty table and put her tray down.

"A quick word?"

Suki looked up to find a big burly guy with a beard staring down at her face.

"Chit Sang.." Suki exclaimed, as the man gave a small nod and took a seat, putting his tray down next to hers.

"What happened last night?" he whispered.

Suki almost dropped her chopstick in shock.

"What do you mean?" she asked, cautious.

Chit Sang looked at the young warrior's face. "I know it was you..." he began.

"I don't know what you are talking about." Suki replied, taking a deep breath to calm her down.

Chit Sang didn't say anything as he slowly started eating. Suki started at him for a while but when he didn't say anything else, she took her cup of tea.

"There was quite a commotion this morning," Chit Sang spoke up. "Two guards were found lying unconscious in the corridor. They have no idea how they ended up face down on the floor."

Suki took a sip of her tea, her hands clutching the cup tightly.

"The other guards assumed they were just drunk and had passed out," he continued, watching her every move. "They didn't report them to the warden since alcohol is not allowed in the prison and if caught, they might all be punished severely for it."

"Good for them then." she replied.

"Is it?" Chit Sang asked, his eyes glued to her face. "The two guards said they found a prisoner roaming around the corridors in the night and the next thing they knew, they were waking up on the floor."

"That's ridiculous." she said, staring back at him. "They must have been really drunk to be hallucinating about prisoners roaming freely in the corridors."

"That's what everyone else assumed." He replied, a slow smile spreading across his face. "But I think they were telling the truth."

She looked back at him calmly.

"If you say so."

He moved closer to her face.

"I know so." He whispered.

Suki could feel the hair rise at the back of her neck.

* * *

><p><em>Katara stared at her hands, colored red with blood. She tried to wash it off but no matter how hard she tried, the blood just didn't go. She was panicking, tears streaking down her eyes as she rubbed her hands raw.<em>

"_Katara…"_

_She spun around to find her mother standing in front of her._

"_Mom!"_

"_Katara… what have you done?"_

"_I had no choice mom…" she sobbed, falling down on her knees. _

_Her mother looked at her sadly. _

"_Mom…" she pleaded… "please don't…"_

_Even as she watched, her mother's figure dissolved into thin air and suddenly she was gripped by an intense cold. Katara shivered, wrapping her arms around her body as the world suddenly turned inky black. The only thing she could see was the red color of the blood that was now slowly dripping down her hands._

_Katara screamed._

"It's not getting any better." One of the healers spoke up as the unconscious form of the water bender suddenly lurched to the side.

The other healer pulled Katara on her back and put the wet cloth on her burning forehead.

"Seems like she is having a nightmare…"

* * *

><p>So engrossed was Zuko in his own miserable thoughts that he almost bumped head on into someone as he turned around the corridor and only managed to stop in time to find himself staring down Mai's face.<p>

"Mai!" He gulped.

Mai looked at him blankly.

"You look as if you have seen a ghost." She replied, taking a step back.

Zuko ran a flustered hand through his hair and didn't say anything. What can he say anyway?

"Umm… "he began.

"What are you doing here?" Mai asked before he could say anything.

"Eh?"

"What are you doing here?" she repeated patiently.

"I live here…" Zuko replied incredulous.

Mai almost rolled her eyes.

"I meant… why aren't you preparing for the war meeting this evening instead of roaming around the palace corridors?"

Zuko looked at her, stunned.

"War meeting? What are you talking about?"

* * *

><p>Toph had had enough; she angrily got up from the ground she was sleeping on and marched up to where Sokka lay snoring.<p>

"Snoozles. Wake up."

"Huh.. wha.." Sokka snorted in his sleep as Toph pulled his arm roughly.

"I said wake up."

Sokka opened his eyes blearily to find Toph's angry face starting down at him, an inch away from his nose.

He screeched in shock, bumping his head painfully against Toph's forehead.

"Ow..." Sokka gingerly got to his feet, rubbing his forehead. "What's going on?"

"It's Aang." Toph pointed to her right.

Sokka turned to find Aang frantically punching a tree.

"How long has this been going on?" Sokka asked, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

"Long enough," Toph huffed. "I am surprised you could sleep through all the racket he was making. And it's already past midafternoon!"

"Hey! I do have a reputation to keep."

Toph shrugged and pushed him towards Aang.

"Whatever. Just make him stop."

* * *

><p>Suki sat on the bunk of her prison cell, twiddling her thumbs, a concerned frown across her forehead. That weasel- rat Chit Sang! Did he really know it was her or was he just fibbing to get a reaction out of her?<p>

She got up and started pacing the cell; this was not good, not good at all.

* * *

><p>The healer stared at the prisoner, a little panic starting to crack through her composure. It had been a good 10 hours since the guards had found her sprawled on the floor; Spirits know how long before she had fallen unconscious.<p>

She bit her lower lip in concern as she put her hand on the Water bender's forehead and could feel no drop in her body temperature. Well, at least she was still breathing.

Even as she watched, Katara's unconscious face distorted into an expression of pure agony, her mouth agape in a silent scream as tears seeped down her eyes.

The healer shook her head sadly. Whatever she was dreaming about, she wouldn't want to wish that on her worst enemy.

* * *

><p>Mai knew that look on Zuko's face a little too well. When Zuko had questioned her about the war meeting, she had just shrugged her shoulders and walked off, too proud to show him that she still cared even after he had ripped her heart out.<p>

Even as she walked off leaving the dejected prince in her wake, she wondered why the Prince of the Fire Nation was not aware of the important war meeting. Even Azula, who was normally pretty composed, couldn't hide her excitement at the prospect of the meeting. If Mai remembered correctly, the meeting had to do something with the Fire Nation's strategy regarding the future of the war.

Mai sighed, stopping in front of the palace garden. Honestly speaking, she did not give a damn about it and she wondered why she was even thinking about it in the first place. It had been only two days since they had decided to go their separate ways and Mai was not ready to face Zuko yet. It had rattled her to come across him in the corridor and she had walked off as fast as she could to get as far away from him as possible.

So absorbed was she in her thoughts that she did not notice the flash of pink as it disappeared from the corner of the hallway.

Ty Lee had been following Mai around and just the fact that she was able to sneak behind Mai's back without her noticing anything worried Ty Lee.

Ty Lee was no fool. She had known this day would come; the hints and indications were just too blatantly obvious even for her to ignore. That night at Ember Island, something had snapped between her best friend and the Fire Nation Prince. It hurt Ty Lee to watch her friend try to mend that broken link but something had to give in the end.

Ty Lee sighed; she hoped Mai knew she was there for her.

* * *

><p>"It's like every time I think about how stressed I am, I just end up more stressed!" Aang spoke up, twiddling his fingers nervously.<p>

"Of course you are!" Sokka replied back. "That's coz you've got to fight the Fire Lord, the baddest man on the planet. And you better win, or we're all done for."

Toph snorted as Aang's eyes went wide in horror.

"What?" Sokka shrugged. "That's the deal, he knows it."

"Maybe you need to sit down and meditate a bit," Toph drawled, picking her toes.

"That's not a bad idea at all Toph," Sokka exclaimed. "Why didn't I think about it?"

"It's no use guys…" Aang replied miserably. "I tried to meditate but then I fell asleep and had.. had.. this nightmare…"

"What nightmare?" Toph asked, curious.

"Well.." Aang began, a little uncomfortable. "In one of my dreams Sokka was running from the Fire nation soldiers, trying to climb up a cliff but he was too slow and they got him."

Sokka looked at the nervous monk and sighed.

"Ok…" he replied, sitting down next to Toph who was now starting to pick the toes on her left foot. "I can understand you being nervous but you have to relax a bit. We have already done what we could; over training is not going to help."

Toph nodded. "Plus the way you were hurling around rocks in the morning, the tremors could be felt far and wide. I would be cautious Twinkle toes. We don't want the Fire navy to come and investigate what's going on."

Aang sat down, a little ashamed. He had not really thought about that.

"Fine…" he mumbled. "I will try to meditate a bit."

Sokka beamed at him.

* * *

><p><em>Katara was running, stumbling around in the dark, her eyes unable to see anything. The smell of blood was everywhere around her and no matter what she did, she just couldn't get rid of it.<em>

_A booming laughter was echoing throughout the dark passage, a mocking sneering laugh. She tried to shut it off by blocking her ears with her hands but it didn't help._

"_You are no better than us.."_

_Katara could see Azula's sneering face, a mocking laugh on her lips._

"_No.." Katara breathed in horror. "No.. I am nothing like you!"_

"_You are worse actually… we never tried to make a person our puppet.. you are quite a puppet master, aren't you? Going inside a person's body and controlling their very actions…"_

_Katara howled in misery._

The fire nation healer had almost dozed off to sleep when he was woken by the second healer coming inside the room.

"How is she?" the second healer asked.

"Temperature seems to have gone down.." the first healer replied, walking over to where Katara lay asleep, strapped on the bed.

"That's a good sign."

"Yeah… now it's only the nightmare she has to deal with."

* * *

><p>Chit Sang was no fool; he knew it was that Kyoshi girl. He had seen her sneak around the corridors a few time before and he was almost hundred percent sure it was her that the two prison guards had caught last night. He shook his head, it was a miracle she was able to escape. Maybe she was not such an idiot after all. Maybe she knew what she was doing and maybe, just maybe she might be able to help him with his escape plan.<p>

* * *

><p>Azula sighed contently. Having her hair washed and combed always helped her relax. Just as she was about to close her eyes, she saw Zuko walking into the room.<p>

"Hello Zuzu.." she drawled. "If you have come for a royal hair combing, I'm afraid you will have to wait."

Zuko clenched his teeth. He had tried not to let it bother him but no matter what excuses and reasons he gave to himself, he just couldn't get rid of the feeling of being deserted by his father once again. If it was not for Mai, he wouldn't even have known.

"So, I guess there's a big war meeting coming up, huh?" he spoke slowly, trying to sound indifferent. "And apparently I am not welcome there."

Azula could sense the hidden question in her brother's voice and decided to answer it.

"What do you mean? Of course you are welcome there."

"Oh yeah, I guess that's why no one bothered to tell me about it." Zuko spat, no longer being able to keep his voice from sounding aloof.

Azula sighed.

"Oh Zuko, don't be so dramatic. I am certain dad wants you there."

When he didn't say anything, Azula added. "You probably weren't invited because its so obvious you are supposed to be there."

Zuko hesitated a bit.

"Well, were you invited?" he asked, hating himself for sounding so needy.

"Of course, I am the Princess!" Azula replied promptly.

"And I am the Prince!"

"Exactly! So stop acting like a paranoid child. Just go to the meeting!"

"Forget it... I am not going."

Azula watched in silence as Zuko stormed off the room.

* * *

><p>Sokka stared at Aang in wonder, he seemed to be doing some sort of a dance and what made Sokka's head spin was the fact that Aang actually looked fast asleep.<p>

"Do you see what I see..?" he asked, his eyes never leaving Aang's dancing form.

"Well…" Toph drawled… "I can't see like you do but judging from his heart rate, he is either dancing with Ozai or with Katara."

"What?!" Sokka whipped his head around so fast that he almost hurt himself in the process.

"Come on… he admitted to liking Katara. It's absolutely normal for him to day dream about her."

Sokka's face blanched.

"She is my sister!"

"Well get used to it, "Toph smirked. "You will soon have to deal with Twinkle toes having Katara wrapped in his arms every day."

Judging from the elevated heart rate and the hyperventilation sounds that seemed to be coming from Sokka, Toph knew she had got him. She smiled, satisfied.

"_What are we doing…?"_

"_What our hearts have been telling us to do for a long long time. Baby… you are my forever girl."_

"Aang!"

Aang blinked and immediately the vision of Katara that he was holding in his arms disappeared.

"Huh…"

"You better tell me that was Fire Lord Ozai!" Sokka almost screeched.

Aang rubbed his eyes… not again. He had been unable to sleep because of the night mares and just when he thought he could escape Ozai, the day dreams started. Agreed, having Katara in his dreams was much better than having Ozai but still…

"Wait what..?" Aang gasped. "What Ozai?!"

Sokka stared at him in wonder.

"What Sokka meant was that maybe you should try out his talk therapy thing." Toph spoke up.

"Oh.. ok… "

"What were you dreaming about?" Sokka asked, ignoring Toph.

"Uh.. umm.. about living under water." Aang lied.

Sokka stared at him for a long time.

* * *

><p><em>Katara had no idea how long she had been there, surrounded by the darkness and the cold. She looked at her blood stained hands again, tears still flowing freely down her cheeks.<em>

_Suddenly, the darkness was pierced by a soft white glow and Katara looked up in wonder to find Princess Yue looking down at her._

"_Yue…" she whispered._

"_It's ok Katara…" Yue smiled at her, her gentle voice suddenly bring comfortable warmth to Katara's numb body. _

"_It's not something to be ashamed of."_

_Katara lowered her head._

"_How could you say that… I.. I manipulated their bodies…."_

"_To save a friend…" Yue replied._

"_What makes an action right or wrong is not the power behind the action… it's the person and the person's will and intention which defines right and wrong. You did what you had to do and in the process you learnt one of the most ancient and dangerous form of water bending."_

"_I am never going to use it… ever…"_

_Yue smiled at her._

"_There might come a time when you just might have to use it. For the greater good. Till then Katara, stop blaming yourself and try to make something good come out of something which you think is evil."_

_Katara watched as Yue's form slowly faded away, the darkness giving way to light…_

"She's awake.."

"Go and inform the warden immediately."

"Get the iron shackles back in place!"

* * *

><p>Being confused and conflicted had become almost second nature to Zuko but this feeling… this was something else entirely. He watched as everyone else slowly filed out of the meeting room, leaving behind a few men who were talking to Azula. Zuko wondered at the irony: just a few hours ago he wanted nothing else but to be invited to the meeting and now that he had been present there, he couldn't help but wonder if it would have been better to have been left out.<p>

He narrowed his eyes as Azula walked up to him.

"So.. happy now?" she smirked.

Zuko didn't know what to say so he just shrugged his shoulders.

"Come on Zuzu…" she continued. "Father saved you a seat; you were literally at his right hand."

"But I wasn't me." Zuko spoke up before he could stop himself.

Azula rolled her eyes.

"There is just no pleasing you…"

Zuko watched as Azula walked off, her footsteps echoing loudly in the empty corridor. He stood there for a long time, his eyes looking at the end of the corridor where Azula disappeared but his mind was rolling off thoughts at the speed of lightning.

He turned and looked at the giant painting of Fire Lord Sozin hanging there… all the pain and sufferings just for the whim of one particular man. An entire culture wiped out, men women and children killed in the ensuing war, families torn apart… for what? For what has his childhood been destroyed…? For what was he banished for three years..? For what was he suffering...?

"Was it worth it Great grandfather…?" he whispered to the portrait. The silence of the empty corridor was all that replied back to him.

* * *

><p>Book 3: Fire<p>

Chapter 10: Day of the Black Sun

Part 1: The Invasion.


	11. Chapter 11

Before I start, I just wanted to give a heads up: Aang might be a little OOC in this chapter. I tried to keep him as much in character as possible but somehow given the amount of stress he had been suffering, an out burst of some sort had to be there... In my first draft, I removed that scene but in the end, I had to put it back.

I hope that doesn't ruin this chapter. As always, reviews and comments are always appreciated :)

* * *

><p>Azula could hardly contain her excitement. Today was the day, the day she finally gets to crush those mole rat rebels. She looked around her, her eyes surveying every movement of the guards as they went about getting ready to set her plans in motion.<p>

She hardly blinked her eyes when two Dai Li agents landed on her side, their heads bowed.

"We are ready, your highness."

Azula smirked, her eyes gleaming.

* * *

><p>Aang stood on the cliff motionless; his eyes closed as the sun slowly rose over the eastern horizon. Today was the day, the day when he finally faced the Fire Lord. He had trained, he had meditated, and he had finally overcome his nightmares.<p>

He opened his eyes.

He was ready.

He could hear footsteps behind him and he turned to find Toph and Sokka walking towards him. Toph finally had her Blind bandit costume on while Sokka was back in his blue water tribe garb, his space sword swung over his back. Aang smiled as Momo came running towards him, scurrying up his shoulders.

"How are you feeling?" Toph asked, punching him lightly on his arm.

"To be honest, I am still feeling a bit nervous," the young Avatar admitted. "But I am ready to face the Fire Lord."

Sokka gripped him lightly on his shoulder, nodding his head.

"This is the first step towards liberation," Sokka said, his eyes never leaving Aang's face. "We will win. You will win." He emphasized.

Aang nodded.

"And don't worry about Katara…" Sokka continued before Aang could say anything. "We will get her out."

Aang hesitated a bit.

"Why can't I help?" He finally said out loud.

"Twinkle toes" Toph replied, shaking her head. "We have been through this. You worry about the Fire Lord and leave Katara to us."

"What about Azula and Zuko?" Aang asked.

"Why are you bringing up all these questions now?" Toph sighed. "We have been through our plan hundreds of time, don't worry."

"What if Zuko and Azula is there with him?" Aang insisted. "I almost died the last time I faced them and that was with Katara helping me out…"

"Aang, stop." Sokka spoke up stopping Aang in midsentence. "Did you forget they wont be able to fire bend? Plus we are going to join you as soon as we get Katara out of prison. It's not just you and Katara this time, it's going to be team Avatar against the royal pains."

"Yeah, relax Twinkle toes." Toph snorted. "Just concentrate on your battle strategy with Ozai."

"There is no need for any strategy." Sokka insisted. "All Aang has to do is chop off Ozai's head and we are all good to go."

Just then, a Water Tribe ship appeared out of the fog distracting Sokka, making him miss the absolute look of shock on Aang's face as his eyes went wide in horror.

* * *

><p>Warden Poon couldn't figure out why the old fatso was still kept in the capital city prison towers. He should have been shipped to the Boiling Rock weeks ago, along with that water Tribe scum. He sighed, his eyes narrowing as he glanced over at the old fool.<p>

"I bet you are tired to be in that cell old man," he sneered. "Well, too bad. You are never stepping outside these walls again."

"Breakfast…" a female guard walked inside the room where Iroh's prison cell was.

"Careful, Ming" Warden Poon spat as he walked out of the room. "Don't get too close. His stench will knock you right out."

The guard named Ming ignored him, instead putting the breakfast tray down on the floor in front of Iroh's cell.

"I snuck in some white jade tea", she whispered. "I know you like rare teas."

"Thank you Ming," Iroh said taking the cup of tea into his hands. "Ever since I have been here, you have been very kind to me. You don't look well though… maybe you should go home and rest."

"Wha..?" Ming stammered. "No, no… I feel fine."

"Trust me…" Ming could feel the hair raise at the back of her neck as iroh's voice grew stone cold. "It is better that you are not here this afternoon."

Ming's throat went dry as she numbly nodded.

* * *

><p>For the first time in a very long time, Zuko didn't feel conflicted. He was feeling a strange sense of calm as he took off the hair pin and removed his royal crown and kept it on his bed. It was as if the cobwebs had been removed from his mind and he could finally see what was true and what was a mirage; the smoke seemed to be clearing ahead, showing him the path to walk.<p>

For the first time in a very long time, Zuko actually knew what he had to do.

* * *

><p>Sokka looked around him, impressed. It must have taken his father a long time to go around and gather all the people and he was glad they all came. Just shows how desperate they were, to put their lives on stake for a foolish plan, a small voice said in his head. Sokka shook his head, now was not the time to be hesitant. The plan was already in motion; all they had to do was go along with it.<p>

He turned as his father approached him, followed by the swamp benders that Sokka had met such a long time ago.

"It's a shame that girly is not here to help" Sokka could hear Tho speaking to Hugh. "This war needs more water benders I tell you."

"And I agree…" Sokka replied. "Unfortunately, as you know my sister is held captive by the Fire Nation and the Northern water tribe could not lend us their assistance."

"Why not?" Tho spoke up. "This is their war too… they were almost annihilated by the Fire Navy. Good thing the Avatar was there to save their sorry hides."

Hakoda sighed. He had to agree with the swamp bender but the last attack on the Northern tribe had majorly depleted their military strength. They were still rebuilding and training new recruits in their army. Hakoda shuddered to think how many of their water benders were wiped out by the fire navy.

"That's why you three are so important." Sokka said, placing his hand on Hugh's shoulder. "We are depending on you to get us inside the Gates of Azulon.

Tho looked like he wanted to say something but a nudge from Hugh silenced him.

"So everything is ready?" Hakoda asked his son.

Sokka nodded.

"Good. I think you might want to talk to Aang though. I just walked past him and he was looking positively deranged."

* * *

><p>Katara swore to herself she would not scream. The pain ripping through her shoulders and arms were excruciating, not to mention the intense heat almost burning her body but she kept her mouth shut. Sweat, blood and tears poured down her cheek and she struggled to keep breathing, to keep her eyes open, to maintain her consciousness.<p>

A rattling noise of an iron door being swung open broke through the silence. Katara did not even have the strength to look up to see who it was. She could hear the footsteps coming closer to her and stopping just in front of her dangling body.

The warden looked at her, his eyes narrowing to dangerous slits. The water tribe girl was hanging by her wrists in the middle of the room, about 7 feet off the ground, solid steel chains keeping her secured from falling into the lava pit which was right below her feet.

"Are you ready to talk now?" he asked, his voice hard as nails.

Katara did not reply. She didn't move, didn't say anything. She could almost feel her feet blistering and just when she thought she could not take it any longer; there was a sharp crack as the warden lashed at her feet with a whip.

Katara had no idea how long she screamed before the merciful blackness engulfed her into the world of unconsciousness.

* * *

><p>Zuko stared at the picture for a while, him in his royal uniform and Mai, in her usual dress. She had her hand placed gently on his arm, a ghost of a smile on her lips. Those days seemed almost like another lifetime.<p>

He looked away from the picture and hesitated a bit before putting a scroll on the bed. He knew there was nothing between him and Mai anymore but he felt like he owed her this time.

"I am sorry Mai." He whispered before turning away and leaving silently.

* * *

><p>Sokka stared at Aang, incredulous.<p>

"You what?" he almost shouted before Toph punched him hard to remind him to keep his voice low.

"You guys didn't tell me!" Aang replied back, heatedly.

"What part of 'take down the Fire Lord' did you not understand?" Sokka asked, trying hard not to let his temper get the better of him.

"I know ok?!" Aang replied, his voice rising a bit. "I just didn't expect that I would have to.. you know.. kill Ozai or something!"

"Then what were you expecting?" Sokka asked, struggling really hard to keep his composure.

"I don't know.." Aang replied, getting angry. Why were they acting as if Aang was supposed to understand that killing was part of the deal? He was a monk damn it!

"I thought I would defeat him and then maybe tie his hands and legs..." even as he said those words, he could realize how stupid they sounded.

Sokka's mouth was hanging open.

"The eclipse lasts for only 8 minutes Aang," Toph spoke up. "That is not enough time to disable the Fire Lord, tie him down and take him captive. Once the eclipse gets over, he would have his bending back and you don't even know any fire bending. How do you propose to keep Ozai's bending under check then?"

Aang almost screamed in frustration.

"You guys don't understand!" he spat, walking around in circles. "The air nomads are peaceful people, we respect all life… we do not kill! It's the way we have been brought up, it's part of who I am. Heck, I am a vegetarian guys!"

"Tell that to the thousands of people who lost their loved ones in the war; that the only reason you didn't kill that monster was because you are a vegetarian."

"Sokka…" Toph growled, warning him not to say anything else but he ignored her.

"Do you know how selfish you sound right now?" he continued, heatedly as Aang clutched his head in his hands and sat down on the ground heavily.

"This is much bigger than you and your personal beliefs! Would you still feel the same way when Ozai kills Katara in front of your eyes?"

"Sokka!" Toph exclaimed but it was already too late.

Aang had launched himself at the water tribe warrior, tackling him to the ground. With a roar of anger, he pulled his arm back to punch him but Toph had immediately jumped in between; bending a column of earth to throw Aang away from Sokka.

Aang got up, his eyes sparkling in anger and even though Toph knew it was Aang, she couldn't help but feel fear creep inside her heart. This angry Aang was almost similar to the one that she had encountered when the sand benders had kidnapped Appa and she did not like it.

"Calm down Twinkle toes…" Toph spoke up cautiously, taking a fighting stance. "I don't want to fight you."

Aang looked at her and seeing her in a fighting stance suddenly made him realize what he was doing. He deflated in front of her like a balloon and she cautiously lowered her hands as he flopped down on the ground, defeated.

"I am sorry guys…" he whispered.

Sokka shook his head, his heart beat finally coming down to normal. He got up and walked over to Aang and laid a hand on his dejected shoulder.

"I am sorry too Aang…" Sokka replied, "But this is one thing you will have to do, if you want us to win this war."

Aang didn't say anything.

* * *

><p>Suki knew something was seriously wrong when she couldn't find Katara for three days in a row. She was not seen in the courtyard and she had not seen any guard taking food trays to Katara's prison cell either. She was very tempted to sneak out in the night but somehow the close call last time had made her very hesitant to try that stunt again.<p>

She looked around, her eyes following the prison guards walking around, keeping a watch on the prisoners as they sat outside in the sun. She had to do something, anything.

She could see Chit Sang in the crowd, talking to one of the guards. Suki narrowed her eyes, maybe he knew something. She got up and approached Chit Sang cautiously.

" Ya, I know where your friend is." Chit Sang spoke up before Suki could even open her mouth. "She is in hell."

Suki blinked.

"We are all in hell Chit Sang," she replied. "And I would say some of you actually deserve to be here."

Chit Sang smirked.

"I heard she's being kept in the torture chamber located behind those big steel doors; for all logical purposes, she might actually be in hell."

Suki could feel all the blood drain out of her face.

"What? You thought coolers were the only things that were used to punish prisoners?" Chit Sang leered.

"I never… I don't think..." Suki stammered.

Chit Sang laughed softly at her face.

* * *

><p>"There they are," Bato spoke up as the giant statue of Fire Lord Azulon became visible through the fog. "The great gates of Azulon."<p>

Hakoda nodded, his knuckles white against his grip on his sword's hilt. It's finally happening. If they can pull this off… he turned to look at his son and the blind earth bender behind him. They looked strangely deflated and Hakoda had a slight feeling of anxiety at the pit of his stomach. Granted Sokka seemed bummed up from the fiasco he made when he tried to explain the invasion plan to the rest of the troop but he had a nagging feeling this had to do something with the Avatar.

"Sokka, is everything ok?"

Sokka looked up to see his father's worried face. Although he was worried about Aang, he knew there was no other way but to trust the Avatar. He stood up and he could feel Toph do the same behind him.

"Everything is fine, Dad. Are we ready?"

Hakoda nodded.

"Hugh, you and the swamp benders, whip us up a fog cover!" Sokka instructed as he walked over to the front to join his father and Bato.

"We'll sneak by that statue just like we sneaked by the fire navy blockade." Tho replied, getting into a water bending stance.

Immediately, a dense and heavy fog begins to fall all over the area; hiding the approaching boats in its cover. Bato peered through the telescope as the giant statue of Azulon slowly begins to melt behind the fog.

"Keep it up, we are almost there." Hakoda whispered.

And then the alarms started to ring.

* * *

><p>To say that Aang was flabbergasted would be an understatement. Still ashamed of his outburst at Sokka, his head was reeling from grasping the possibility that he would have to kill the Fire Lord to guarantee a victory. Every fiber of his being was screaming out at him to stop… to find out another way… there has to be another way right? He sighed in frustration, the anxiety growing at the pit of his stomach.<p>

"What are we going to do buddy?"

He patted Appa gently; the giant beast grunting softly as they swam under water, Appa's head surrounded by a huge air bubble.

Suddenly he could hear the muffled roars of engines and he looked up to see the shadows of jet skis as they raced across to where the water tribe boats stood. For several heart stopping moments, nothing happened and just as suddenly, five submarines shot out from under the stranded boats, deftly slipping in through the gates even as the fire nation soldiers swarmed the boats.

At least things were going according to plan, Aang mused. And if everything went according to plan, he would end up with blood on his hands by the end of the day.

* * *

><p>"They are here, Princess."<p>

Azula looked down from her throne at the Dai Li kneeling in front of her, his head bowed.

"And?" she prompted.

"We are putting up a good show of resistance but we have not gone all out yet."

"Good. Let them come."

* * *

><p>Sokka was running flat out, Toph following closely behind him. The battle had already started and he could feel and hear the tremors as the earth shook beneath their feet.<p>

"This way" Sokka yelled, turning sharply to his right.

Hama had drawn out a map for them, pointing out the prison towers located in the capital city and though Toph had verified that Hama was telling the truth, Sokka still felt a bit uncomfortable putting their trust in an old scary lady.

"I can see it…" Toph spoke up. "It's not that big but it does seem like a small tower."

Sokka stopped suddenly and catching Toph's sleeve, pulled her along, slamming both of them hard against a huge tree.

"We don't want the guards to see us," he whispered, peering out from behind the trunk.

"Relax, Sokka.." Toph replied, "I can see them remember?"

"Ya but what if the floor is made of wood?" Sokka questioned.

Before Toph could open her mouth to reply back, there was an earth shattering blast that almost knocked them off their feet.

"What's that?" Toph asked, stunned.

Sokka put his hand over her mouth as he tried to get a better look at what was happening. He could hear a few muffled screams and what sounded like powerful fire blasts echoing inside the tower. And then everything went quiet.

For a few seconds, nothing happened and then suddenly the front door of the tower was blasted off its hinges. It flew almost 10 yards into the air, landing with a thud just a few feet from where they were hiding behind the tree. A huge fire blast followed and even though they were reasonably far from the door, they could still feel the intense heat radiating from it. Sokka shut his eyes instinctively, the radiance of the fire almost blinding him in its brightness.

Toph let out a gasp, as she wrenched herself out of Sokka's grasp and ran towards the tower.

"Toph!" Sokka shouted, "No, stop!"

Cursing under his breath, he ran after the blind earth bender, his eyes still watering from the intense light of the fire.

"It was him, it was him!" Toph shouted back. "It was General Iroh!"

Sokka came to a stop behind Toph, as the blind earth bender stamped her feet angrily in the ground.

"I swear it was him!" she said heatedly. "But I can't see him anymore. It's like he vanished from the surface."

"Well, at least we know for sure this is a prison." Sokka replied back, looking up at the broken door.

"I can't feel Katara anywhere inside the tower." Toph said, marching up the front steps. "But you have a point. If the floor inside is made of wood, I won't be able to see her."

Sokka opened his mouth to warn her about being cautious but considering the clamor that was made just a few moments ago, he decided there was no point. Closing his mouth, he dashed after her.

* * *

><p>Zuko knew what he was going to do sound more than crazy but he had finally made his decision, his choice and there was going to be no turning back. Taking the broadswords down from the wall, he turned to walk out the door when his eyes fell on his mother's portrait.<p>

With a lump in his throat, he knelt down before the portrait, his head bowed.

"I know I made some bad choices," he whispered. "But today I am going to set things right."

He stood up and walked over to the door, turning to look back at his mother's picture just one last time before shutting the door behind him.

* * *

><p>Aang knew something was not right the moment he flew inside the city. It was too quiet to begin with, the streets too deserted and empty. He was expecting some sort of activity at the very least, considering the fact that they were being invaded.<p>

He tried to ignore the small hint of panic starting to rise in his throat as he flew over to the roof of an adjacent building and peered down to check the streets below.

"That's strange…" he muttered to himself.

* * *

><p>The invasion force had managed to make their way through, charging towards the capital. The fire benders were rendered useless as their fire blasts were all blocked effectively by the earth shield of the earth benders.<p>

Haru and his team were sending boulders after boulders towards the enemy, forcing them to retreat while the caterpillar tanks were providing back up to the leading earth benders.

"The Fire nation is falling back!" Tyro bellowed, getting a roar of approval from the rest of the invasion army.

* * *

><p>Hakoda gritted his teeth, bringing up his left hand to shield himself against a fire blast. Before the fire nation soldier could blast off another flame, Hakoda had swiftly turned on the spot, bringing up the sword on his right hand to cut through the straps holding the soldier to the komodo rhino. With a yell, the soldier fell to the side, his feet still tangled up to the saddle as the rhino stamped its feet angrily.<p>

Bato was solidly behind him, fending off one attack after another as they tried to move in closer to the palace city.

"How are we doing?" Hakoda panted.

"Not bad at all, " Bato replied back.

"Dad!"

Hakoda turned to see his son rushing towards him, Toph behind him.

"Sokka!" Hakoda exclaimed. "Where is Katara?!"

Sokka shook his head sadly, unable to speak or look his father in the eye.

"She was not there…" Toph spoke up sadly, "She was not in any of the prison cells."

Hakoda's heart clenched. He knew he was being optimistic about finding his daughter but no matter how hard he had tried to prepare himself, it still hurt to know how futile their search had been.

"Dad… I.." Sokka began but before he could say anything, a huge fire ball exploded right in front of his eyes.

* * *

><p>Suki had lost count of the number of times she had paced around inside her tiny prison cell. No matter how she looked at it, the situation couldn't have been worse. What was she going to do? Was there anything she could do in the first place?<p>

Closing her eyes, she tried to take deep breaths to calm herself down.

Katara was being tortured and there was nothing she could do. Maybe she could get her out of the chamber… and then what? Even if she somehow managed to accomplish such a feat, how would they escape? Well… she still had her escape plan up her sleeve. But for that to work, stealth was required and the current situation did not favour stealth of any kind.

She opened her eyes, there was one way. Full blown prisons escape… no sneaky attacks, no sneaky plans.

* * *

><p>Azula sat patiently, going through the strategy in her mind. In a few minutes, the eclipse will start and from then till the moon goes past the sun, they have to lay low. The avatar was never going to find them anyway and once the eclipse is over, she will obliterate them all.<p>

She could almost feel the adrenaline rushing through her veins at the mere thought of battle.

* * *

><p>Sokka was on his knees, coughing violently as dust and smoke clouded his vison.<p>

"Dad.." he choked.

"He's ok.." Toph called out. "They are all ok. I managed to push them away in time."

Sokka opened his eyes to find himself under an earth dome. Toph had earth bended at the last moment, shielding them from the effects of the blast. The next second, she turned from defensive to offensive as she struck out with her hands, sending shards upon shards of projectile from the dome towards the enemy. Once out in the open, Sokka ran towards his father, who was lying on the ground.

"Dad!"

A komodo rhino jumped on his path, the soldier wielding a spear, blocking Sokka's way. Sokka didn't even stop; he took his sword out and jumping on top of the rhino's head, sliced through the spear in two, kicking off the soldier to the ground.

He reached his father in two strides, dropping to his knees as he tried to get him to sit up.

"I am ok son..." Hakoda gasped, clutching the right side of his stomach.

"You are bleeding!"

"So are you…"

Sokka looked down to his right at where his father was pointing to see a big gash on his upper arm, the blood seeping through.

"It's just a scratch" he replied, a worried look on his face as his father leaned back against his shoulder, breathing hard.

"So is this… " Hakoda replied, "don't worry. Right now you have to go and join the Avatar."

"But dad…"

"It's ok Sokka," Bato spoke up. "We are leading the invasion remember. This is just a flesh wound anyway, we have to go according to the plan."

Sokka looked at Bato and then nodded his head. Ripping off a strip from his shirt sleeve, he tied it tightly across his arm, trying to stop the bleeding.

"You are right," he replied standing back. "You guys take care of this, Toph and I have to go to Aang."

"Leave it to your old man" Hakoda smiled as Sokka looked at him and with a nod of his head, took off towards where Toph was fighting off two fire benders on her own.

* * *

><p>Aang blasted the doors off the palace room with one strong sweep of his staff, immediately getting into a defensive position. He stood there, alert, waiting for any sign or movement but there was none. A little surprised, he let go of his stance, looking around.<p>

"Hello? Anyone home..?"

No answer.

Almost panicking now, Aang blasted open every door he could find in the hallway, jumping into the room and getting into an air bending stance at once. Panic leading to anger, he finally blasted through to an empty throne room.

"No… no no no!"

Aang fell down on his knees, clenching his fists in anger.

"Fire lord Ozai! Where are you?!"

* * *

><p>Book 3: Fire<p>

Chapter 10: Day of the black sun

Part 2: The Eclipse


	12. Chapter 12

Toph tried hard not to think as she ran; the sounds and tremors of the battle fading behind them as they scrambled up towards the palace. She could feel the anger and frustration radiating out of Sokka, so strong it almost made her heart ache. Gritting her teeth, she mentally forced herself not to think of anything else but the upcoming battle ahead. With the Avatar. And with the Fire Lord.

So engrossed was she in her thoughts, she failed to notice Sokka coming to an abrupt halt in front of her and crashed into him head first.

"Ow!" she yelped, falling flat on her back. "Sokka! What's the big idea?!"

Sokka was squinting up at the sky, disbelief sketched all over his face.

"Is that… is that Aang?" he squeaked.

"No. It looks like the fire Lord's pet dragon."

Sokka was distracted enough by Toph's reply to actually look down at her in surprise only to remember she couldn't see.

"I guess I deserved that…" he mumbled as Aang glided down and landed in front of them.

"Please tell me you're here because the Fire Lord turned out to be a big wimp and you didn't even need the eclipse to take him down?"

Aang shook his head.

"He wasn't home. No one was. The entire palace city is abandoned."

Sokka's mouth fell open.

"They knew!"

Aang hung his head, gripping his staff tightly in his hand.

"Where's Katara?" he suddenly asked.

"She was not there…" Toph replied before Sokka could open his mouth.

Aang's shoulders slumped in defeat.

"It's over…" he whispered. "The Fire Lord is probably long gone, far away on some remote island where he'll be safe during the eclipse."

"No…" Sokka replied slowly. "My instincts tell me he wouldn't go too far. He would have a secret bunker, somewhere he could go so it'll be safe during the siege but close enough to lead his nation."

"If it's an underground secret bunker we're looking for, I'm just the girl to find it." Toph spoke up.

Sokka checked the timing device that the mechanist gave him.

"We have 10 minutes to find the Fire Lord".

Aang nodded.

"Let's do this."

* * *

><p>Suki was ashamed to admit it but she could feel her hands shaking in fear as she peered out the corridor. All the prisoners were back in their cells and though she had promised herself she would not try to sneak out of her prison cell, she had no choice. The time had come for drastic measures and drastic measures called for drastic actions.<p>

Darting out of the corner, she dashed down the corridor, running past one prison cell after another. Just when she was about to reach the end of the hall, a sudden movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. Years of training in Kyoshi island kicked in instinctively; in a flash she took hold of the metal bars on the window flap of the prison to her left and using it as leverage, she swung herself up the metal door, leaping up and catching the edge of the cell and pulling herself up. She ducked down on top of the prison cell just in time as two guards walked into the hallway.

She watched quietly as the guards walked down the passage, her eyes following them as far as they could. It was when a minute or two had passed by and the footsteps had finally faded away that she jumped down, landing quietly on her feet.

Her heart thumping wildly in her chest, she ran down the corner.

* * *

><p>Katara opened her eyes blearily. The heat was suffocating and her shoulders felt as if they were going to rip off her body any second. Her sweaty hair stuck on to her forehead as she looked up at the chains binding her wrists and for a moment, she almost thought of breaking them before she realized doing so would result in her dropping down at the lava pit straight below her feet.<p>

Even through the pain, her fists clenched in anger making fresh blood drip down her arm. This has gone far enough, it's about time she finally took matters on her own hand; reason be damned.

* * *

><p>Zuko stood before the iron doors, his heart thundering in his ears. There was no turning back. Now was the time, the time when he will finally be able to walk down the path of redemption.<p>

Taking a deep breath, he calmly pushed the door open.

* * *

><p>"Azula!" Sokka couldn't stop himself from screaming in shock.<p>

"So… you are alive after all."

Aang's mouth fell open in disbelief.

Toph was flabbergasted. She was so sure it was the Fire lord behind the closed doors, why couldn't she sense it was Azula instead?

"I had a hunch that you survived." Azula drawled. "It doesn't matter, I've known about the invasion for months."

"I have no time for this", Aang spoke up, his staff pointing at her. "Where is the Fire Lord?"

"Hmm, you mean I am not good enough for you?" Azula smirked, her eyes gleaming. "You are hurting my feelings."

Wood… she was sitting on a wooden throne with a wooden pedestal. No wonder I couldn't sense her, Toph thought angrily.

"Stop wasting our time!" Sokka snarled. "Tell us where the Fire Lord is!"

Before Azula could do anything, Toph had stamped her foot on the ground and with a swift movement of her arms, encased Azula in a solid earth trap.

"And stick to the truth", Toph added, squeezing the earth tightly around Azula. "I will be able to tell if you are lying."

Azula smirked and immediately the earth trap began to crack and shatter. To their disbelief, the whole trap exploded and Azula calmly stepped forward, dusting off her uniform.

"When I left Ba Sing se…" Azula continued nonchalantly. "I brought home some souvenirs."

Aang took a step backward as two Dai Li agents dropped down the ceiling, landing on their feet in front of her.

Sokka gulped. Things were getting from bad to worse.

* * *

><p>Hakoda looked up as the moon started to darken the sun. This was it… the moment of truth. In the next 10 minutes, the future of the whole world will be decided. Gripping his sword tightly, he followed Bato up the volcano with the rest of the invasion troops.<p>

* * *

><p>With a loud bang, the door to the chamber smashed open. Katara's head snapped up in shock, just in time to see Suki launch herself in the air to avoid the fire blast from the lone guard stationed there; the fire blast that didn't come. Before the guard could recover from the confusion as to why his fire bending was not working, she back flipped in the air, landing behind the guard and kicking him strongly on his head. The metal clang from his helmet sounded like a canon blast in the small chamber as the guard slumped down to the floor.<p>

"Suki!" Katara gasped as the Kyoshi warrior dashed to where she was hanging by her wrists in the middle of the room.

"Katara! I will get you out of here, don't worry." Suki gasped, shocked to see the water bender covered in blood.

"Are you crazy?" Katara almost screamed. "How do you plan to fight the battalion of fire benders out there? This is impossible!"

Suki was not listening to her. The shock of seeing Katara like this was starting to wear off and her mind went on overdrive trying to figure out how to get her down safe.

"I don't know why but for some reason, none of the guards I came across could firebend." Suki said, dashing towards the lever where the guard had fallen down.

Katara's eyes went wide as the realization hit her.

"The eclipse…!" she whispered.

Suki pulled the lever down but nothing happened.

"It's the eclipse Suki!" Katara exclaimed, excitement and adrenaline rushing through her at once. She checked to see if she could still move her fingers and even though the pain was excruciating, she managed to bend her sweat over the iron chains.

"Help me break the chains." Katara called out. "I am going to freeze them but you will have to break them and also catch me when I fall"

Suki nodded.

"On the count of three then…"

Closing her eyes, Katara took a deep breath and blew it over the sweat, freezing it over the chains.

"One"

Suki gripped the spear from the unconscious guard, taking aim.

"Two"

Suki took off on a run, the spear on her right arm as she hurtled towards Katara.

"Three!"

With all the strength she could muster, Suki hurled the spear at the frozen chain. Just as the spear made contact and broke through the chain, she took a flying leap, jumping over the lava pit and grasping Katara's falling body with both her arms.

They landed safely on the other side, tumbling over the ground.

"Thanks…" Katara whispered weakly.

Suki got on her feet, her heart thumping wildly.

"We don't have time." She replied, "Let's go."

Katara nodded. She was finally on her feet and this time there was no chains to bind her.

She spread her arms out in a water bending stance and turning on the spot, thrust them forward.

For a spilt second, nothing happened.

And then Suki could hear the roar of the sea.

"Hold on to me." Katara replied grimly. "This is going to be a bumpy ride."

With a mighty crash, a huge wave of water ripped through the metal walls of the chamber, smashing the steel to smithereens. With a quick move of her arms, Katara froze a slab of water and making sure Suki was holding on to her tightly, she surged forward, riding the wave of water as it burst out of the room.

Suddenly, warning siren started blaring and red lights flashed throughout the hallway.

"Isn't the water supposed to be boiling?" Suki gasped, awestruck.

"I am not using the water of the volcano, " Katara replied, as she manipulated the enormous wave. "I am using the water of the ocean, outside the periphery of the volcano."

Suki nodded, peering out from behind Katara as a swarm of fire benders rushed in towards them.

* * *

><p>"Get out!" Ozai yelled, furious. "Get out of my sight right now if you know what's good for you!"<p>

"That's another thing," Zuko replied calmly. "I am not taking orders from you anymore."

Ozai's eyes almost bulged in rage. "You will obey me or this defiant breathe will be your last!"

Before Ozai could take another step forward, Zuko quickly pulled his dual swords out and pointed them at the furious Fire Lord, stopping him on his tracks.

"Think again", Zuko said. "I am going to speak my mind and you are going to listen."

* * *

><p>"Surround the periphery!" Bato barked. "We have to secure the palace by the time the eclipse is over. Otherwise, we'll be in for the fight of our lives!"<p>

The invasion force swarmed forward; they could almost taste the victory up ahead.

Something was not right, Sokka could almost feel it in his bones. They were trying so hard to catch Azula but somehow she had not thrown a single offensive blow at them.

And then it hit him.

"Wait! Aang! Toph!" he shouted. "Stop attacking!"

Aang and Toph screeched to a stop.

"Don't you see what she's doing? She's just playing with us!" Sokka exclaimed. "She's not even trying to win this fight!"

"Not true." Azula replied sarcastically. "I am giving it my all!"

"You are trying to keep us here and waste our time!" Toph exclaimed.

"Um, right. I think your friend just said that genius. And since you can't see, I should tell you I'm rolling my eyes."

"I will roll your whole head!" Toph shouted in anger.

"Ok, so what do we do?" Aang asked, "Just ignore her."

"We don't have a choice." Sokka replied. "We just have to get out of here and find the Fire Lord on our own somehow."

* * *

><p>Katara and Suki rushed up the open courtyard, leaving behind dozens of fire nation guards frozen solid behind them. Even as they rushed to the yard, a dozen more guards with spears rushed forward to block their way. Katara didn't even slow down; she pushed her arms forward, calling up her element which came roaring from all over the island prison.<p>

The guards just had a moment to cower in fear before the gushing water swept them off their feet and froze them solid.

Suki looked up towards the sky and she could see the dark disc of the moon slowly moving away from the face of the sun.

"We don't have much time…!" she yelled, blindly dashing behind Katara as the furious waterbender froze every single person running towards them.

"We don't need more time." Katara replied back just as she reached the edge of the island.

She raised her arms and the water followed her every move, raising up in a wall. Suki could hear a frightened squeak from one of the frozen fire benders behind them as the water split up in shreds and forming powerful jets, rushed towards one of the many coolers protruding out of the prison walls. The high pressure water jet sliced through the wall, taking apart a cooler.

Katara and Suki jumped on to a frozen ice slab, racing towards the now dislodged cooler floating in the steaming hot water. The Kyoshi warrior hung on for dear life, as they raced across the water, the ice almost melting in the heat of the boiling water. With a final powerful surge, Katara made the water take both the floating cooler and themselves over the rocky edge of the volcanic island.

And just then, the moon moved away completely from the face of the sun.

* * *

><p>Zuko's eyes opened wide in shock as Fire Lord Ozai swung both his arms out, a powerful surge of electricity cracking up the atmosphere. From the tips of his fingers, Ozai bended two identical bolts of lightning and thrusting his arms forward, shot two powerful bolts of pure electric energy straight towards him.<p>

Zuko reacted instinctively. He shot his right hand out, capturing the lightning with the tips of his fingers. There was no time for hesitation, no time for second thoughts. It was almost as if his body was reacting on it's own. So strong was the force of the bolt that it pushed Zuko back more than a foot behind but he held on, concentrating really had as he directed the incredible force of energy from his finger tips to his stomach and then redirected it, aiming straight for Ozai.

There was a huge blast which threw Ozai off his feet, slamming him hard against the wall. By the time Ozai managed to get on to his feet, Zuko was already gone.

* * *

><p>"Oh. Sounds like the firebending's back on."<p>

Suddenly Azula swung her foot out, creating a powerful arc of clear blue fire, making Sokka jump back in shock. Before he could even recover, she kicked her feet out, lashing at him with a powerful fire ball. His eyes opened wide in horror as he stood rooted to the spot.

"Sokka move!" Toph yelled, pushing him out of the way just in time as the fire ball whooshed past harmlessly.

"Dad's all the way at the end of the hall and down the secret stairway on the left." Azula said, as she blasted apart the earthen bonds that had her wrists tied together. "I am sure he will be more than happy to see you now."

Smirking, she took off down the tunnel, disappearing in a flash.

* * *

><p>Hakoda just couldn't shake off the feeling of unease from the pit of his stomach anymore. The eclipse was over but nothing happened.<p>

"What should we do Hakoda?" Bato asked, "Shouldn't something have happened by now?"

"I don't know…" he replied uncertainly. The wound was now starting to hurt again. "But now that the eclipse is over, I expect we're going to see some firebenders any minute."

Just then, five huge Fire Nation balloons rose up in the sky. The mechanist's mouth fell open in horror.

"My own invention! Oh this is terrible!"

And then the bombs started to rain down on them.

* * *

><p>Suki was flat on her back, looking up at the clear blue sky. She couldn't believe they made it. They were finally out… out in the open sea, floating on a cooler…<p>

Katara sat down heavily, her hands shaking uncontrollably.

"We did it…" she whispered, raising her shaking hands and staring at them. "We actually did it."

Suki giggled, her mind still trying to grasp the enormity of the situation.

"Yes, " she replied. "We did it."

Katara nodded numbly.

* * *

><p>Zuko was running flat out. He didn't even bother to look back as he sprinted towards the prison towers; all he could think of was to get Uncle out. He rushed up the steps and his heart almost stopped when he saw the broken door lying halfway across the front yard and scorch marks everywhere. Did something happen to Uncle?<p>

Rushing to the prison cell, he stopped in shock when he saw the steel bars melted and a huge hole in the cell. Looking around miserably, his eyes fell on the semi-conscious form of the warden, lying a few feet away from the broken cell.

He grabbed the warden by his collar, shaking him awake.

"Where is my Uncle?" he growled in anger and fear.

"He's gone" the warden managed to stammer. "He busted himself out… I.. I have never seen anything like it.. he was like a one man army!"

* * *

><p>Aang didn't want to believe what was happening. The huge plume of smoke and dust coming from the harbor was proof enough that all their submarines were blown to smithereens. Angry tears spilled down his cheeks as he grabbed his staff tightly.<p>

"Don't worry about us son," Hakoda called back as Sokka, Toph, Aang along with Haru, Teo and the Duke sat on top of Appa. "We will be ok."

"Bye, son." The mechanist looked at Teo sadly.

"Bye, Dad. I am really proud of you."

"I will miss you Pipsqueak."

"Take care, the Duke."

"We lost today but we have never been this close." Hakoda spoke up. "We tasted victory and that counts for something."

"Bye, Dad." Sokka replied sadly. "We won't be apart for long this time. I promise."

Gritting his teeth in anger, Aang slowly wiped off the tears.

"Thank you all for being so brave and so strong." He spoke up. "I am going to make this up to you."

* * *

><p>Azula narrowed her eyes, watching as Appa roared across the sky, flying faster and faster away.<p>

"Should we follow them Princess?" the captain asked.

"No," Azula replied. "They are too fast. It doesn't matter, they'll be back."

* * *

><p>Zuko watched from the air balloon as the giant bison disappeared across the sky. It didn't matter; he knew where to find them.<p>

Book 3: Fire

Chapter 12: The Western Air Temple


	13. Chapter 13

Suki could not believe their luck. She got out! They got out!

A giggle escaped her lips at the thought of the look on the warden's furious face… locking a waterbender in a prison surrounded by water. What a foolish thing to do. But one look at Katara's now unconscious and exhausted form lying next to the tiny fire she had managed to build made a chill run down her spine.

It was nothing foolish… they sure did a number on the poor waterbender.

Suki sighed, poking the tiny embers, trying to get some warmth. It was pure luck they managed to find this island just when Katara was at the brink of her strength. She had somehow managed to bring them ashore before collapsing with exhaustion.

That was hours ago; how many hours... Suki had no idea. All she could say was the sun had long given way for the moon to shine in the now inky black sky.

A sudden rustle to her left snapped Suki's thoughts back to the present. Her whole body tensed up as she slowly got up into a defensive stance… straining her ears, listening with all her might.

Did the fire nation find them already?

Her heart hammering painfully in her chest, she cautiously glanced down towards Katara. The water bender was wide awake, the dying lights of the fire glittering off her steely blue eyes. She nodded to Suki, getting up and standing back to back with the kyoshi warrior; as the long silence of the night stretched on, broken only by the lonely hoot of the night owl in the distance.

Was it a false alarm? Suki wondered as the minutes slowly ticked by.

No… there it was again... and much closer this time.

"Footsteps"… Katara muttered.

"Ya" Suki nodded, trying hard not to think about what would happen if they were surrounded by fire nation soldiers… They were in no condition to fight. She strained her eyes, trying to see in the dim light of the moon when suddenly a figure stepped out into the tiny clearing.

For a second no one moved. The figure appeared as surprised as Suki felt at that moment.

"Zuko!" Katara yelled, breaking the silence of the night.

Zuko's eyes opened wide in shock but before anyone could react, Katara had jumped forward, ripping the water out of the grass beneath their feet and slamming it against the Fire Nation Prince, sending him crashing down the bushes.

"Run!" Katara shouted, gripping Suki's hand and dashing madly in the opposite direction.

"Wait…!" Suki could hear the faint cry of the Prince as they ran head long into the dark forest, Katara leading the way. She couldn't see anything clearly but surprise had long given way to panic and she barely seemed to notice the low hanging branches of the trees as they hit against her face, thorny bushes scratching their legs, drawing blood.

"How?" Suki panted… trying to jump over the jagged roots of an ancient tree.

"No idea…" Katara rasped, "I have absolutely no idea."

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Toph cracked her knuckles nervously. The disaster of the invasion plan loomed heavily upon all of them. Their spirits were broken and their bodies were bruised but they had somehow managed to escape and seek refuge in the Western Air temple. Haru, Teo and The Duke had roamed off as soon as they had landed and since then no one had said a word.

"What was the point?" Aang bursted out suddenly, causing Momo to squeak and run away in shock.

Toph didn't say anything. She could feel the avatar's fury as he angrily started pacing the temple courtyard.

"It was a pointless futile waste of time!" Aang roared, his hands shaking in anger.

"Calm down Aang…" Sokka spoke up.

"How can I calm down?" Aang shouted. "We lost everything! We couldn't get Katara, we lost our allies and we couldn't even touch Ozai!"

"So what's our new plan?" Toph asked.

"The new plan is the old plan" Sokka sighed, getting up from the corner and walking towards Aang. "We need you to master all the elements and kick the Fire Lord down before the comet arrives."

"Great!" Aang muttered, "I will do just that. Let me know when you find a fire bender stupid enough to teach me so that I can bring down his nation."

Before anyone could say anything, Aang had thrown his glider in the air and disappeared in a rush of air.

"Where's Katara when you need her?" Toph mumbled. She clamped her hand to her mouth as soon as the words escaped her lips.

Sokka looked at her sadly.

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"Foolish brother" Azula chuckled. "What a stupid thing to do!"

Ty Lee glanced over at Mai cautiously. Zuko's betrayal had been a shock to her but Mai seemed to be taking things along rather well. There was not even a trace of emotion on her face, not one thing to let Ty Lee know what she was thinking; she seemed exactly the same as she sat on the chair, twirling a knife on her finger.

Ty Lee sighed. This was not good.

"So what do we do now?" Mai asked, her eyes fixed on the knife.

"We hunt them down ofcourse!" Azula smirked. "And I know exactly where to find them."

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Zuko wanted to kick himself.

"Stupid! Stupid!" he moaned, hitting his head against the tree. "What was I thinking?"

He was reckless, there was no denying it. He had openly walked into an enemy camp and was so oblivious to his surroundings that he did not notice the dying embers of a fire, not to mention two warriors who were standing ready to knock him down …

"I could have been killed!" He groaned, throwing himself face down onto the ground. He closed his eyes, as the surprise he had felt seeing her so suddenly washed over him once again. He had no idea what she was doing here; come to think of it, why was she even here on this remote island? Wasn't she supposed to be locked up in the Boiling Rock?

Zuko sat up suddenly. Did something happen?

He looked over the horizon; the morning sun was already on its way up the sky and if he was right, it would take him at a few more hours to reach the Western Air Temple. He did not know why he was so sure the Avatar was going to be there but after all these years searching for Aang, he had learned to trust his gut feeling and right now it was yelling at him to go to the air temple.

He looked over the clearing, trying to see if he can catch a glimpse of either Katara or the other person who was with her. He was not surprised they had not come back; to them he was the enemy after all. However, straying too deep into the forest might be an even dangerous option.

Zuko hesitated.

"What do I do now?" he asked. Only the croak of the badger frog replied back to him.

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Katara peeked through the leaves of the bushes, straining her eyes to see if they were being followed.

"It doesn't make any sense" Suki whispered behind her.

It had been hours since they encountered the Fire Nation Prince and the sun was already starting to make her feel hot and sticky.

"I mean why ambush us and let us just run away?" she continued.

"You never know how the minds of such people work." Katara replied grimly, her eyes still scanning the surroundings. "If there is one thing I have learned, it's never to trust him."

Suki shuffled her feet uncomfortably; for some reason it felt like this was something personal.

"Katara…" she hesitated, trying to think how to put her thoughts in words. "Did something happen between you two?"

Katara visibly froze and Suki knew right then and there that she had hit a nerve.

"No" Katara replied, her voice carrying a false sense of normalcy, "Nothing happened."

Suki knew better than to ask anything else.

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"Aang! Get back here!" Toph roared.

Sometimes it amazed Sokka how someone so tiny could strike fear so deadly into any person's heart, Avatar or no Avatar. He glanced up to see Aang slowly glide back down after what seemed like hours.

"We are not giving up twinkle toes!" Toph stated, walking over to where Aang had landed.

She could hear him sigh.

That was a good sign, she smiled to herself.

"Alright…." Aang spoke up. "So how do I learn fire bending? And how do we get Katara back?"

"We will have to start from scratch" Sokka sighed. "We will have to try and pick up Katara's trail once again and at the same time try to find someone.. maybe Jeong Jeong to teach Aang firebending."

"Who's Jeong jeong?" Toph asked. "Never mind…."

"That's not gonna happen" Aang said. "Who knows where Jeong Jeong is? "

"Can't you ask Roku?" Sokka asked. "You know… he might be able to help, give some tips or something."

"On how to find a fire bending master?"

"No… on how to train yourself in fire bending."

"Sokka! That's crazy!"

"What, you have a better idea?"

"No… but how can I train myself in something I have absolutely no idea about?"

"Considering the current scenario, I don't think we have much choice now, do we?"

"Forget it! It's not gonna work!"

"You have not even given it a shot! How do you know it won't work?"

"Ladies! Ladies!" Toph interjected. "Calm down here a bit."

"What?" Aang and Sokka looked at her.

"I think Sokka has a point." Toph replied slowly.

"Oh great… now take his side." Aang scowled

"Hey!" Sokka yelped.

"I am not taking anyone's side." Toph continued "Let us face it, it is the worst scenario possible. Rather than not being able to do any fire bending, it might be a good idea to know at least a little bit of fire bending."

"Little bit of fire bending is not going to help against Ozai," Aang replied frustrated. "He will burn me to a crisp within seconds."

"Well… we are not denying that." Sokka spoke up.

"You are not helping at all, you know!" Toph sighed.

"This is a stupid idea." Aang replied angrily, "Let me know when you come up with something better."

"You are not running away from this twinkle toes!" Toph yelled but Aang had already taken a flying leap over the edge of the balcony.

"Why does he always do that?" Toph screamed.

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Zuko looked back at the island, a tiny tinge of regret pulling at his heart but he knew he had no choice. Katara would never trust him and he knew it would be futile to try to convince her that he was on her side. The best course of action at this point would be to go find the Avatar and let them come and rescue their friend. He knew he was running against time; if Katara did manage to break out of the Boiling Rock, the fire nation scouts would have been out looking for her since last night.

That's impossible, he thought. How could one person break through such a high security prison?

"It's not just impossible." He mumbled to himself, "its mind boggling!"

Yet, here she was, stuck in an island right in the middle of the Boiling Rock and the Western Air Temple; an island that Zuko just managed to find to seek shelter for the night. What were the chances of that happening?

"Destiny is a funny thing Prince Zuko."

Zuko smiled to himself.

"Yes Uncle, it sure is."

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"We need to move." Suki said, resting against the back of the coconut tree. "Now."

Katara nodded.

It had been a while since they saw a huge Fire Nation air balloon in the sky; at first panic had gripped them but even as they watched, the balloon slowly started moving away from the island, finally disappearing in the western horizon.

"If we keep waiting for them to come and find us, we might actually get dragged right back to the fire nation." Suki continued. "And this time, I am sure our punishments will be much worse."

Katara shuddered. Much worse than the Boiling Rock? She looked down at her hands; the cuts and bruises had long healed, thanks to her water bending healing abilities, but she wondered if she could ever get out of the nightmare of the torture she had to suffer in the prison.

"Let's go and take a look." Katara said, still looking at her hands. "We will need to be very cautious."

Suki nodded. She still couldn't figure out why the Prince was in the island or why he had not raised the alarm yet but she knew better than to speculate on what could have been.

"Alright," Suki got up. "Let's put this show on the road."

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"It's too quiet in here." Teo complained.

"Well… I heard them arguing a few hours back," Haru said, "I think it might be safe for us to go back."

Teo chuckled.

"Ya… I saw Aang fly back to the courtyard on the glider my dad made for him."

Even as he spoke, the silence of the temple was suddenly shuttered by an ear splitting boom, followed by a shock wave so powerful it threw Haru off his feet.

"What's happening?" He yelled, scrambling on to his feet as another large rumble filled the air.

"It's sounding like the temple is falling right off the cliff" Teo screamed as another shock wave, pushed them back.

"This way!" The Duke yelled, running behind Haru as he made his way towards the center of the temple courtyard.

A huge puff of dust suddenly assaulted them, choking the air out of The duke as he fell on his knees, coughing uncontrollably.

Haru picked him up and ran towards the end of the corridor, stopping right in the middle of what seemed like a fight.

"Whoa!" Teo yelped, screeching to a halt.

A huge man, who seemed to be made half out of metal was somehow throwing explosives all around them. He could see Sokka, Toph and Aang huddled together behind a giant pillar as the monster blew another explosive right next to them.

"He's going to blow this whole place right off the cliff!" he could hear Toph yell furiously.

"What's going on?" The duke shouted, trying to get a glimpse of the metal man.

"I have no idea." Teo replied, "but I think it will be better if we go find someplace to hide."

"Hide?" Haru replied, incredulous. "No hiding. We fight!"

Before anyone could say anything, Haru had hurled a huge boulder towards the metal man but even as they watched, the guy just turned to look at them and the rock was blown to smithereens right in front of their eyes.

"Alright, we hide." Haru said, grabbing the Duke and making a run for the opposite end of the courtyard.

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For a second, Zuko thought he had walked right into an ambush again. He quickly scanned the area but could not see any Fire Nation battle ship or war balloon nearby and yet the ground was vibrating beneath his feet and he could hear loud explosions coming from underneath the cliff.

Scrambling down, Zuko ran to the edge, trying to see if he could detect what was going on. The Western Air temple looked as serene and deserted as it did that day more than 3 years back when he had come here searching for the Avatar with his uncle. Nothing to indicate that time had not stood still for the huge structure; that the years had forgotten that this place even existed.

Except for another earth shattering rumble that almost threw him off the cliff.

Climbing down quickly, he ran towards the source of the commotion, skipping over fallen rocks as he made his way towards the eastern courtyard.

"Please don't let it be Azula", he thought desperately as he came skidding around the corner and almost toppled over the edge which ended suddenly, giving way to a 50 feet drop over the edge.

Grabbing the wall for support, he turned around to find the Assassin he had hired to track the Avatar down more than a month back.

"You!" he gasped.

The metal man turned to look at him and Zuko almost took a step back instinctively. From the corner of his eye, he could see the Avatar and his friends huddled behind a pillar as the courtyard lay in shambles before them.

"Stop!" Zuko yelled, taking a step towards the assassin. "I do not want you hunting the Avatar anymore."

"Zuko!" he could hear the Avatar yelp in shock.

Zuko ignored Aang, instead spreading out his arms to stop the Assassin.

"The mission is off! I am ordering you to stop!"

Instead of backing down, the man advanced towards Zuko and with a push, shoved him out of the way. Zuko skidded back, regaining his balance just in time to see the metal man blast off the top of the courtyard fountain as the Avatar and his friends covered their heads with their arms.

"If you keep attacking, I won't pay you!" He shouted but the man gave no sign that he even heard him.

"Alright… that's it!" Zuko thought, pulling his arm back and blasting a fire ball towards the metal man. The man easily dodged the attack and taking a quick step forward, surprised Zuko by grabbing his shirt and pulling him up, making him miss the next attack as his fire ball hit the ground harmlessly behind the man.

"Alright, I will pay you double to stop." Zuko gasped, struggling to escape from the man's grip. He struck down with his arms, breaking the assassin's grip and landing on his feet.

He knew words were useless and there was no other way to stop this guy without defeating him. With a sigh, he let go of a quick succession of fire towards the man, hitting him and pushing him back. Taking advantage of the momentary loss of balance, Zuko jumped into the air, lashing out with a kick that caught the side of the man's head. The man staggered back, shaking his head to clear the ringing out of his ears. Thinking he had the upper hand, Zuko tried to kick him again but this time the man was ready; he caught his feet in midair and before Zuko could react, he tossed him aside and slammed him hard against the wall, knocking the wind out of him.

He got up groggily and from the corner of his eye, he could see the assassin standing in front of him. Before he could react, the guy had blasted a huge energy wave towards him; Zuko's eyes widened in shock even as he instinctively bent down, creating a shield of fire as the blast hit him.

The force of the explosion knocked him off his feet and he toppled backwards, covered in thick dense smoke. His heart leapt to his throat as the ground gave way beneath his feet and all he could feel was the air rushing up as he fell, plunging almost 50 feet to the rocky cavern below. He reached out desperately with his hands, trying to grab anything to help break the fall and just when he thought it was all over, he could feel a thick vine brush against his cheek. He grabbed hold of it with all his strength, his body jerking to a stop in midair.

His arms felt as if they were going to rip out but he hung on for dear life as all hell broke loose around him.

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Katara was rattled. There was no other word to define it; she was definitely rattled.

And confused.

And scared.

She didn't know what to do.

If only she could stop her hands from shaking so much, she thought furiously, gripping her arms around herself.

They were stranded in the middle of nowhere, possibly surrounded by fire nation troops and they had no idea where to go next. Not to mention, she was completely useless at her current state. She didn't want to acknowledge it but the escape from the prison had taken a huge toll on her; she was exhausted even after the fitful rest she got last night.

That was before he came stumbling into their tiny camp site.

Katara shuddered.

"There is no one around."

Katara yelped in shock, turning around to find the Kyoshi warrior standing behind her.

"Suki!" she gasped

"Are you alright?" Suki asked, concerned.

"Yes, yes… I am fine."

Suki raised her eyebrow but didn't say anything.

"I went round as we discussed," she said. "I couldn't find any fire nation soldier anywhere."

Katara nodded. She couldn't find anyone either.

"So…" Suki continued, "Was the Prince alone?"

Katara stared off towards the western horizon; was it possible that Zuko was actually alone and had left on the war balloon they saw in the morning? She shook her head; that would make no sense at all.

"I don't know" Katara replied slowly. "We can make a run for it but then we might be running right into their trap. If we stay here, there is a high probability of getting ambushed."

Suki nodded.

"I think it will be best if we try to take cover of the night," Suki suggested. "It will not be much but at least the darkness will give us some advantage to sneak out into the sea."

"Alright," Katara nodded, getting up. "We wait for the night."

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"Hey, I heard you guys around here. So I just thought I would stop by and lend a hand."

Sokka stared at the scarred Prince, his jaw almost hitting the floor in surprise.

"I know you must be surprised to see me", Zuko continued nervously.

"Not really, " Sokka replied, finally finding his voice. "Since you have followed us all over the world."

Zuko didn't know how to reply back to that.

"Right…." He spluttered, " what I wanted to tell you about is that I have changed…. That I am good now… and well I think I should join your group… and oh, I can teach fire bending to you…"

He trailed off, looking at Aang.

"You want to do what now?" Toph asked, incredulous.

"You can't possibly think any of us would trust you, can you?" Sokka asked, brandishing his boomerang threateningly. "I mean, how stupid do you think we are?"

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"Aaargh!" I can't believe how stupid I am" Zuko yelled at himself, throwing his arms out in frustration. "I mean, what was I thinking? Telling them I sent an assassin after them! Why didn't I just say Azula did that? They would have believed that! Stupid!"

His offer of teaching fire bending did not go as well as he had hoped. In spite of him trying to save them from the assassin and offering to help Aang, they turned him down.

He sighed. He really can't blame them after all. He sat down, his head on his hands. Why won't anyone believe him?

"Wait!" Zuko sat up straight. "Why didn't I tell them where Katara is?"

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"It might be a trap you know." Sokka spoke up apprehensively.

"At least he is not lying." Toph said cautiously.

"I am telling the truth!" Zuko replied emphatically. "I saw her last night. She was on this island and there was another girl with her."

Aang gripped his glider tightly, making up his mind.

"I don't care if it's a trap," he said firmly. "We have to check it out."

"Aang…" Sokka began, "I want this to be true as much as you do. She is my sister! But let's try to be rational here for a minute. What reason do we have to trust this guy?"

"Well… he did try to save us from combustion man…" Toph interjected.

"Who?" Zuko asked surprised.

They ignored him.

"That he did…" Sokka admitted grudgingly.

"He is not lying guys…" Toph sighed.

"Alright," Aang nodded. "Let's go."

"This better not be a trap," Sokka muttered.

"Trust me, it's not."

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Katara woke up with a start.

"Suki", she whispered.

"Yes, I heard it too," Suki replied, standing up.

Katara had dozed off waiting for the sun to set. She was not sure what woke her up but now that she was wide awake, she could almost feel his presence around her.

"He's back."

Katara could feel the anger rising up inside her once again. Why won't this guy leave her alone?

"Katara!"

Katara's head snapped back towards the sound; she couldn't believe her ears but that sounded like…

"Sokka?"

Suki whirled around bewildered.

"Kataraaaaa! Where are you?"

"Sokka!" katara yelled back, in spite of herself. "Is that you?"

"This way guys…" Katara could hear another familiar voice.

"Toph!" she whispered, amazed.

"Suki…." Katara muttered, "You can hear them too right?"

"yes, I can" Suki replied, laughing with relief as three figures came bursting out of the forest into the clearing where they were standing.

There was a yell of pure joy and then it was all a tangle of legs and arms as the three figures crashed on to Katara, rolling over onto the ground.

Zuko watched from a distance, keeping his space.

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Katara could not stop crying. She was trying really hard but the tears just wouldn't stop flowing down her cheeks.

In fact no one could speak, it was like words had lost all meanings.

She gripped onto the three of them, amazed that she could see them all once again.

"Is it a dream?' she choked, finally letting go.

"No, it's real." Suki spoke up.

"Suki!" Sokka yelled, surprised to see her. "Is that you?"

Suki laughed softly as Sokka pulled her into a tight hug.

"How? Where? Why?" he mumbled, unable to believe his eyes.

"Long story," Suki whispered, letting him go as Aang turned to give her a hug.

"How did you find us?" Katara asked, wiping her tears.

"Well… he found you actually" Aang spoke up pointing towards Zuko.

Katara's eyes widened in shock when she saw him and in an instant, her relief turned into blind anger.

"You!" she yelled, rushing at him, already drawing water out of the surrounding air.

In spite of himself, Zuko took a step back in alarm.

"Katara! Stop!" Aang jumped in between, pulling her back.

"It's a trap Aang!" Katara yelled, furious. "let me go!"

"Calm down Katara!"

"Let go of me Aang!"

She tried to push him away, angrily swinging her right arm and sending a barrage of ice daggers towards Zuko, which he easily side stepped and they thudded harmlessly into the tree behind him.

"Katara, it's ok! He's on our side" Aang grunted, trying with all his might to restrain the furious water bender.

Katara let out a delirious laugh.

"He's not on our side!" she screamed, almost clawing at Aang in order to free herself. "He's only on his own side!"

"Enough Katara… " Sokka pulled his sister back by her arm, "Calm down."

With a mighty effort, they managed to restrain the struggling water bender between the two of them.

"Whoa…." Toph whispered. "Sugar queen sure is frightening when she gets angry."

A quick image of an angry, bloody Katara riding the huge wave of water down the prison corridor of the boiling rock flashed through Suki's mind.

"Oh she sure is." Suki nodded.

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The dust had finally settled down and the moon was high up the night sky of the Western Air temple when there was a knock on his door.

Zuko looked up to see Katara standing there, leaning against the door with her arms folded and her eyes closed.

He didn't know what to say and for one mad second, he almost felt like jumping out the window; anything to get as far away from her as possible. Though she had not said anything to him for the rest of the evening, he could still feel her anger towards him radiating like the rays of the sun.

Before he could say anything however, she spoke up.

"You might have everyone else here buying your transformation but you and I both know you have struggled with doing the right thing in the past."

Zuko blinked his eyes in surprise.

"So let me tell you something right now" Katara continued, walking towards him, her eyes sparkling with a quiet rage. "You make one step backward, one slip up, give me one reason to think you might hurt Aang… and you won't have to worry about your destiny anymore. Because I will make sure your destiny ends right then and there… permanently."

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Book 3: Fire

Chapter 13: The Firebending Masters


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